Expect The Unexpected
by Samantha14
Summary: It's the twenty-fifth reunion of Stars Hollow High class of 2003, and the Marianos run into people they weren't expecting to see.*COMPLETED!!*
1. Meet the Marianos

Title: Expect the Unexpected.   
  
Disclaimer: I don't own the Gilmore Girls or any of the characters. I do, however, own the little kids, new characters, and situations.   
  
Summary: A future fic. The Marianos now own Luke's Diner (Luke lives with Lorelai) and it's the twenty-fifth reunion of the senior class of Stars Hollow High, 2003. Many of the members of the Senior Class moved out of Stars Hollow but are back for the reunion; they're staying at the Dragonfly and Independence Inn;the Dragonfly is owned by Lorelai and Sookie.  
  
  
  
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Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! SLAM!  
  
43-year-old Jess Mariano angrily punished the early morning offender, and he did it so hard, the clock fell off the side table. Jess groaned and got dressed. When he finished, the sky was just barely beginning to take on a pinkish tint. Jess glanced over at the bed and smiled at the long dark hair spilling out of the cylinder of sheets. He smoothed the hair and kissed the forehead of the woman before going to wake up his son.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
61-year-old Luke Danes blinked in the darkness. He groaned and reminded himself he didn't have to get up before the sun anymore. Old habits die hard. He looked at the woman in his arms and smiled. Even at fifty-eight Loreali was beautiful. She sighed and opened her eyes.  
  
"Good morning, sweetie," she whispered and kissed him.  
  
"Good morning,"he murmured back.  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
18-year old Christopher Mariano was awake and dressed before his father's alarm. To pass the time Chris reread his father's copy of Oliver Twist with the notes in the margins. His father burst in at the normal time, surprised to find his son awake and ready for the first time in ages. Chris hopped up and led the way downstairs, only once looking over his shoulder to say to his father, "Hurry up, Dodger."  
  
His father was even more surprised to hear his son call him that name and started down the stairs after Chris asking,"Where'd you get that name from?"  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
43-year-old Rory Mariano awoke with a smile on her face. She quickly got dressed and, looking at the clock and realizing she wouldn't have to wake up her kids for at least another hour, made her way downstairs.  
  
She perched on one of the stools and admired the spacious diner before pathetically groaning, "Coffee."  
  
Chris turned around and set a steaming cup in front of her.   
  
"Done." He grinned and turned to take orders from the early customers but Rory caught his arm.  
  
"Thank you." She pecked him on the cheek.  
  
"Mom!" Chris blushed and continued his trek.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
A/N: It's short, I know, but I thought this was good to just barely introduce the characters and give you a taste of what it will be like. I am expecting at least one review (good) and then I shall write more. 


	2. Old Friends

Title: Expect The Unexpected.  
Chapter Two: Old Friends  
  
Disclaimer:I don't own the Gilmore Girls or any of the characters. I do, however, own the little kids, new characters, and situations.  
  
  
  
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When Rory was polishing off her second cup of coffee, someone spun her around. Two mischevious eyes gleamed at her before she was swallowed up into a kiss so passionate it took her breath away.  
  
"Get a room." Chris muttered as he walked by.  
  
"We've got one!" Jess yelled back.  
  
A little voice at his side asked sleepily, " Got one what?"  
  
Jess squatted so he was eye-to-eye with six-year-old Laura and replied "One beautiful daughter" before kissing her on the nose.  
  
Laura giggled. "You're silly Daddy."   
  
Rory laughed too, before playfully scolding. "Lorelai Leigh Gilmore Mariano! You march upstairs and get dressed this instant!"  
  
"Nonsense!" Miss Patty exclaimed from her nearby table. "I think she looks adorable. I just _love_ Barbie pajamas!"  
  
"What do you say, Laura?" Rory prompted.  
  
"Thank you, Miss Patty," Laura chorused.  
  
"You're very welcome, dear. Now do what your mother told you and go change."  
  
"Okay!" Laura ran up the stairs.  
  
"Thank you," Rory said.  
  
"Oh, it was nothing, dear. Now sit down and tell me what's going on with that darling Lane!"  
  
Rory obliged. "Well, her husband just started his own medical practice. It's just him and his partner." Miss Patty nodded. That much she knew. "And," Rory continued, "Her oldest daughter is getting married.  
  
"Really?" Miss Patty asked, intrigued. Maybe something juicy. But little Laura stopped Rory from going any further.  
  
"Like this, Mommy?" Laura asked holding out the red and yellow dress she wore over her green leggings.  
  
"No, not quite, sweetie. Miss Patty, will you excuse me?"   
  
"Of course."  
  
"Thank you. Now, sweetie, why don't I come up with you and help you get dressed and you can help me wake up Luke."  
  
"Okay!"  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
"I don't wanna get up." 12-year-old Luke's voice was muffled by his pillows.  
  
"Yeah, well, you have to." Rory pulled the pillows and sheets off the bed, opened the blinds and turned on the light. When that didn't work, she said, "Go ahead Laura."  
  
Laura jumped. Luke oofed. Laura jumped again. Luke oofed again.  
  
"Okay, Laura, that's enough," Rory said, pulling Laura off her brother. "Please go get dressed in that pretty blue dress. Wear blue socks and your white tennis shoes. Go!" Laura ran off.   
  
"I don't wanna get up."  
  
"Boy, are you grumpy. You sound just like Luke."  
  
Luke sat up. "I _am_ Luke."   
  
"I know that. What I meant was, you sound just like big Luke."  
  
"I sound like Grandpa Luke?"  
  
"Yes. Now get up, get dressed, eat your healthy breakfast, and I want to see you downstairs ready to go in half an hour."  
  
"Okay." It was reluctant, but it would do.  
  
"Laura," Rory started to the girl at her knee,"you want to go get some pancakes?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Ten minutes later Rory had somehow managed to seat both Laura and Chris at a table with food. By cutting up Laura's pancakes Rory had succeeded in getting at least one of her children munching away happily. Chris complained that it was the morning rush and that he should be taking orders and helping out in the kitchen. Rory looked around at the very few people in the diner and said that she'd take care of it. As she walked away she pointed to the pancakes in front of Chris."Eat!"  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
The door opened and automatically Chris and Rory looked up to see the new customer. Chris glanced at the middle-aged Korean woman and turned back to his breakfast. His mother, however, shrieked.  
  
"Lane!" Rory ran over to her and threw her arms around her old friend.  
  
"Hi,Rory."  
  
"Lane, how are you?"  
  
"I'm doing fine, just like Monday when I talked to you."  
  
"Oh, why didn't you tell me you were coming?"  
  
"Because I wanted it to be a surprise. And, it is!" Lane laughed.  
  
"I guess you're here for the reunion."  
  
"Yeah. I kinda dread thinking about my teenage years, but it was an excuse to see you."  
  
"Awwwww. I bet you don't like the cold, though."  
  
"I guess I have gotten used to the warm Florida winters. But I wouldn't mind a white Christmas now and then."  
  
"Well, then you should bring your kids to see us! We're always going down there."  
  
"Yeah, sure. We'll have to set it up."  
  
"By the way, how are your kids?"  
  
"Oh, they're great. How are yours?"  
  
"They're fine. I need to get them bundled up and ready to go. Be right back." Rory took Laura's hand and led her up the stairs. Chris was off taking orders somewhere. Rory let it pass.  
  
Lane sat on a stool and looked over the diner. She hardly recognized anyone. She hadn't been to Stars Hollow for fourteen years, but she'd been corresponding with Rory, so she knew the stories, just not the faces. She thought she recognized someone from the back and went over to him. 


	3. Unpleasant Surprises maybe a pleasant 1

Title: Expect the Unexpected  
Chapter Three: Unpleasant Surprises...and maybe a pleasant one.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own the Gilmore Girls, or any of the characters. I do, however, own the little kids, new characters, and situations.  
  
A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed! I appreciate the feedback and especially the compliments!!!! Yay!!  
  
  
  
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Lane recognized one person in the diner. She went over to him. "Jess. Jess!" Lane tugged on his sleeve and he turned around.  
  
"I'm not Jess," he grinned, "I'm Chris."  
  
"Chris! Little Chris!" Lane gushed. "Oh, I haven't seen you since you were four! And now you're eighteen and all grown up!" She threw her arms around him. "I'm Lane, by the way."  
  
Jess came out from the kitchen and noticed his son with a shocked look on his face and a woman's arms wrapped around him.  
  
"Who's that hugging you, Chris?"  
  
"Um, she says her name is Lane."  
  
"Oh, Lane." Jess pulled Lane off of Chris and gave her a hug. He laughed at the shocked look on her face. "I've had twenty years with my bride, I'm happy."  
  
"Oh, that's right, today is your twentieth anniversary. Congratulations."  
  
"Thank you. And I hear congratulations are in order for your oldest daughter."  
  
"What? Oh, yeah, she's getting married."  
  
"You don't sound too happy. Who's she getting married to?"  
  
"Oh, the drummer in the band she's in. I just think she's too young. But, she's eighteen, legally allowed to get married, so what can I do?"  
  
"You got married at eighteen, right?"  
  
"Yep, to a future Korean doctor. Married at eighteen, divorced at twenty-one, boy was Mama mad, and married at twenty-three to another future Korean doctor. Of _my_ choosing."  
  
"And you're about to celebrate your twentieth anniversary?"  
  
"Two months."  
  
Rory came downstairs with two bundles of clothes, one a foot taller and lagging behind the other one. Rory herself was bundled up and carried a coat for Chris."Come on Chris, let's go.Time for school."  
  
"Mom, I've got another half-hour."  
  
"He does, Ror. I need help with the morning rush before you get back, anyway."  
  
"Fine." Rory reluctantly gave in. She wasn't as stubborn as her mother; it was hard to be that stubborn.  
  
"Can I walk with you?" Lane spoke up.  
  
"Sure." Rory brightened a bit at that, and Lane grabbed her coat and they were gone. Jess retreated in the kitchen, leaving Chris to deal with the customers.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
A girl sat on one of the stools and sad to the guy behind the counter, "Two coffees, please."  
  
Chris looked up at the girl sitting alone. "One for you and one for your imaginary friend?"  
  
The girl laughed. "No, actually I'm slightly addicted to caffeine, and I've found I need more than one cup to get me going in the morning."  
  
"Then you haven't heard the tale of the infamous Gilmore girls of Stars Hollow."  
  
"Um, no."  
  
"Ah, it is a tale of woe, it is a tale of joy, it is a tale of coffee."  
  
"Go on," the girl laughed.  
  
"Well, some say they were invented by a mad scientist in his lab. He was trying to make crazy robot people. He built two beautiful girls, a mother and a daughter, but before the lightning storm that would give them life, he spilled a cup of coffee on the controls. Now they roam the world, searching, searching for coffee strong enough to keep them awake and hyper."  
  
"Oh, that's great! Did you just make that up?"  
  
"No, my dad and grandfather tell the story to anyone who will listen. The mother of the mother-daughter team is my grandmother, and the daughter part is my mom."  
  
"You mean it's true?"  
  
"Just the mad scientist part."  
  
"Hmm, well I think I'm brave enough to try this strong coffee."  
  
"Okay, but I'll only give you a cup."  
  
Chris plunked a cup in front of the girl and poured coffee from a pot labeled "WARNING! THIS COFFEE IS ONLY FOR THE GILMORES! THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES CRAZY ENOUGH FOR IT!!" The girl smiled at the label and took a sip.  
  
"Wow! That is some strong coffee!"  
  
"I told you," Chris smirked.  
  
The girl pointed her empty cup at him. "Can I have more?"  
  
"Wow, my mother would love you." Chris poured her another cup. "I'm Chris Mariano, by the way." He extended his hand.  
  
"Jen Forester ." She took it.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Rory and Lane came back in the diner fifteen minutes later. They were laughing. Rory was able to stop long enough to say, "Chris, school, now."  
  
"Wow, no verbs. Something must have been really funny."  
  
"Kirk-Kirk was-was,"Lane tried to start."I can't stop laughing."  
  
"Kirk was-was dancing!" Rory finally burst out, and she and Lane both doubled over. Chris just raised his eyebrows at Jen before clearing his throat and introducing her.  
  
"Mom, Lane, this is Jen Jones."  
  
That shut both of them up. Rory turned pale and turned to head upstairs, but thought of something and turned around.  
  
"It's nice to meet you," Rory said, "and please tell your father I said hello." With that she headed upstairs.  
  
Lane turned to Jen and said, "Tell Dean I said hi, too." Then she ran up the stairs after Rory.  
  
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A/N:Dean's last name is Forester, as shown by the new episode of Gilmore Girls, and I totally missed that part when I watched it, so thanks to that reviewer. Anyway, Henry(the guy who Lane chose), his last name is Cho, as shown by other friendly reviewers. Also, thanks once again to all my reviewers, I _adore_ you! 


	4. Something's Brewing and it isn't coffee

Title: Expect the Unexpected  
Chapter Four: Something's brewing...and it isn't coffee  
  
Disclaimer: Okay, this is the standard disclaimer: I don't own the Gilmore Girls or the characters; I do, however own the new people I make up and the situations.  
  
A/N: Okay, so Henry's last name is Cho, thank you for this information, and anyone who really likes Dean might not like what happens soon, but it adds intrigue, and I haven't actually liked Dean since I saw Milo Ventimiglia, anyway. I digress, on with the story.  
  
  
  
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"Well, that was interesting." Chris was startled that his calm easygoing mother could look that pale and hurt.  
  
"Yeah. Who was that again?" Jen pulled a small notebook out of the back pocket of her jeans and reached for Chris' pencil.   
  
"Oh, that was Rory Mariano--that's M-A-R-I-A-N-O--and Lane."  
  
"Lane who?" Jen asked, the pencil poised over her pad.  
  
"Uh, I don't know, I'll ask my dad." Chris turned, ready to yell, and almost ran into Jess.  
  
"Ask me what?"  
  
"Oh, Jen wanted to know Lane's last name."  
  
"Cho. But that's her married name. Why are you asking?" Jess directed the question at Jen.  
  
"Well, she told me to tell my father she said hi, and so I need to know who says hi."  
  
"Ah, you're here for the reunion. And your dad would be--?"  
  
"Dean Forester."  
  
"Dean F- does your mother know?" Jess turned to Chris.  
  
"Well, yeah, she-"  
  
"Oh, I hope she's okay. Oh, when I think about what that jerk did to her!" He turned to Jen. "You tell your father that if he puts one foot in this diner or gets anywhere near Rory, I'll beat him up worse that I did the last time." He started upstairs, raving. Then he called over his shoulder, "Lane's maiden name is Kim."  
  
Chris turned to Jen.  
  
"I wonder what that was all about," she murmured.  
  
"I don't know, but I can find out. You better go," he added as an afterthought.   
  
"Yeah, I should," she responded, gathering her coat and slipping her notebook in her back pocket.  
  
"I'll walk you out." Chris put on his own coat. "I've gotta go to school anyway." He held the door open for her, his arm positioned so she had to duck underneath it. They both smiled.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Rory was sitting on a couch upstairs in her living room. She was crying into Lane's shoulder. Jess was pacing back and forth in front of them.  
  
"After all these years, having the nerve to send his daughter to the diner! Oh when I think about how he-"  
  
"Jess." Lane's voice sharply cut through his anger. "None of us like him."  
  
"Yeah, well, we've got good reason not to."  
  
"Jess." This time it was Rory. "Who's watching the diner?"  
  
Jess looked uncomfortable. "Well-"  
  
"I'll go." Lane stood up. "You two need to talk." She walked downstairs.  
  
"I don't know why I'm crying." Rory wiped her eyes. "It was so long ago."  
  
*FLASHBACK*  
  
Rory sat on the bridge, the keys to the car Dean had given her dangling from her fingers. A shadow fell over her and two feet appeared next to her.  
  
"Hi, Jess. I was just thinking about Dean, and what to do with his car. I gueess I should give it back to him and tell him it's over. What do you think?" She looked up but the face was blacklit by the sun; she couldn't see who it was. But she recognized the voice.  
  
"You automatically think it's Jess."  
  
"Dean!" Rory scrambled to her feet.  
  
"Why do you automatically think it's Jess?" Dean screamed at her and shook her, and when the car keys slipped from her hand into the water, Dean punched her and she flew backwards and splashed into the water. Dean ran away.   
  
********  
  
Rory walked into the diner soaking wet and with a black eye; immediately Jess and Luke swarmed affectionatley around her, wrapping her in blankets and putting a raw steak on her eye.  
  
"What happened?" Luke asked.  
  
"It doesn't matter," Rory whispered averting her gaze from Jess's stare.  
  
"Who did it?" Jess spoke up. "Who did it?"  
  
"Dean." The whisper was so faint that Luke had a hard time hearing it, but Jess had known it was coming. Jess ran out of the diner, not even stopping to put on his coat. He found Dean skulking on the gazebo, and he went up to him.  
  
"I don't appreciate you hitting inocent girls like Rory."  
  
Dean stood up and hit him, and Jess hit him back, until Jess had a bruise on his cheek and Dean had bruises all over.  
  
Rory hadn't liked that Jess got into a fight, so she left for college and hardly came back, except for Luke and Lorelai's wedding the summer after ehr sophmore year, and she saw Jess and almost forgave him, but she left again and didn't come back until after graduation, at which point Rory forgave Jess and he popped the question and they got married in Febuary 2008 and forgot about Dean -- mostly.  
  
*END OF FLASHBACK*  
  
Jess protectively put his arm around Rory and kissed her on the forehead.  
  
"I thought I was over it," Rory whispered into Jess's shirt.  
  
"If he touches Chris-"  
  
Rory looked up. "No more fights."  
  
Jess smiled. "No more fights," he agreed. They headed downstairs.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Lorelai walked across the street to Doose's market. She thought she recognized her oldest grandson walking across the square with his arm around a girl, but that couldn't be possible, he was supposed to be in school. Lorelai squinted and reached into her purse for her glasses. It took her two minutes to find them and by the time she had them on, the couple had dissapeared. Lorealai shook her head. Chris was like his mother; he liked school. He couldn't be turning into his father, could he? Lorelai dismissed the thought from her head and went into Doose's to buy cornstarch.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Jen Forester walked into the Dragonfly late that evening. She smiled at the woman behind the front desk.  
  
"Room 212," Jen stated, waiting for the key.  
  
"Okay, room 212," Lorelai repeated, looking through the guest ledger. "Jennifer and Jonathan Forester." Lorelai's smile faltered a bit, but was as big as ever when she looked up. "I'm guessing you're Jennifer."  
  
"Call me Jen," she said as she took her key. She turned to leave.  
  
"Um, you wouldn't be any relation to the Dean Forester in 210, would you?"  
  
"He's my father," Jen casually tossed over her shoulder before heading to her room.  
  
"Oh, my." Lorelai got someone to cover the front desk and headed toward the kitchen.  
  
"Sookie," she called as she opened the door.  
  
"Lorelai?" Sookie asked from inside a cabinet. She tried to straighten up and hit her head, yelling "Ow!" and a few unprintable words. She appeared a minute later rubbing the back of her head.  
  
"What's the matter?" she asked frantically. "Did people not like dinner? Oh, I knew I shouldn't have made something new on Wednesday. Wednesday's not for new things."  
  
"Sookie-"  
  
"Did they yell? Did they riot in the halls? Oh, did they leave? They all left didn't they? Oh, Lorelai, I'm sorry."  
  
"Sookie, Sookie, it's not that. They loved dinner. They always love dinner. There were so many compliments, I'm thinking of having you cook all the meals from now on."  
  
"But I do cook all the--" Recognition dawned on her face. "Oh, Lorelai, I freaked out again, didn't I?"  
  
"Just a tad."  
  
"Oh." Sookie giggled. "Sorry, honey. Now what do you need?"  
  
"Okay, first of all, Dean's staying here."  
  
"Dean Forester? Formerly Rory's Dean?" Lorelai nodded emphatically. "I know, sweetie, you told me when he called for a reservation. And when he checked in. _And_ when Jess called this afternoon to say that Rory now knew and that she was shocked at first but had gotten over it. What about him?"  
  
"His daughter's staying here, too."  
  
"Honey, that's because he's here for the reunion and they were told to bring the whole family."  
  
"I saw his daughter this afternoon."  
  
"She _is_ staying in the inn."  
  
"No, you don't understand! I saw Dean's daughter and Chris walking arm-in-arm through town this afternoon."  
  
"No!" Sookie gasped.  
  
"Yes," Lorelai nodded.  
  
"Rory and Jess's Chris?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Oh, that is trouble."  
  
"I tell you, something's brewing, and it isn't coffee." 


	5. The Other Side

Title: Expect the Unexpected  
Chapter Five: The Other Side  
  
Disclaimer: Pretty standard: I don't own the Gilmore Girls or the characters, but I do own the new characters, little kids, and situations.   
  
A/N: Okay, I know it's been awhile, but I've been really busy at Shakespeare camp, and now that I've _memorized_ two Shakespeare scenes and better appreciate actors in general, I have a little more time, and here it is: the anxiously awaited chapter five!!! Enjoy!!!  
  
  
  
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Jen Forester danced down the hall to her room. She stopped at her door and noticed a post-it.   
  
  
  
  
**_Enter Here_**  
*--------  
  
  
  
  
Jen backtracked to room 210 and knocked. Jon, her eight-year-old little brother, answered.  
  
"She's here!" he yelled over his shoulder before retreating back into the room.  
  
"Hello to you, too." Jen muttered under her breath as she pushed the door open and entered the room. As soon as she came in eyesight of her parents her smile grew wider.  
  
"Hi," she said, seating herself at the last remaining chair at the table where her parents were playing Scrabble. Jon was sprawled on the bed, watching television. He looked shocked when Jen sat down. She stuck her tounge out at him. Her parents remained oblivious.  
  
"How was your day?" 36-year-old Margaret Forester asked her daughter, not looking up from the game.  
  
"Oh, it was wonderful!" Jen stood up in elation. Jon stole her chair, but Jen was too happy to notice. "I had someone show me around--I met him at a diner the lady downstairs recommended--and he took me all over town---the bookstore, the music store, the bridge, the gazebo, Miss Patty's dance studio, Doose's market---and then he showed me around Stars Hollow High. It was great, and small, and I saw a sign that they're putting on Guys and Dolls in May, and auditions are in a month. Oh, if we moved soon, I could try out for Adelaide. I've always wanted to be Adelaide!  
  
"In other words, just from waiting around for that plain little band of gold, a person could develop a cold." Jen sang one of the first lines from _Adelaide's Lament_, the biggest song for Adelaide in Guys and Dolls. She did the voice perfectly. (A/N: It's hard to explain; it's like the voice of the girl in Singing in the Rain who they don't like to let talk. It's kind of high and there's a New York accent, and...well, rent the movie or see the play. That 's all I can say.)  
  
Margaret and Jon both clapped.   
  
"That was great," Margaret gushed.  
  
"Just like the movie." A compliment from Jon was a rare one for Jen, and she looked shocked before responding with a curtsy.  
  
"Are you _sure_ you want to move here?" Dean spoke up.  
  
"Yes!" Jen, Jon, and Margaret spoke simultaneously.  
  
"I had a great time. It's a great town."  
  
"Jen's right. _And_ I made a friend today."  
  
"He did, when we visited the elementary school."  
  
"I just don't know yet if we're gonna move. I don't want you to get your hopes up."  
  
"Dean!" Margaret spoke sharply. He looked at her. She looked at him. Then she turned to her children.   
  
"Okay, time to go! Jenny, have you eaten dinner? No? Then go downstairs and see if you can scrounge something up. Out you go!" Margaret pushed the astonished children out the door and closed and locked it. As she leaned against it, she looked at her husband of eighteen years.   
  
"Dean." This time it was softer. Dean looked up from the wood pattern he was tracing with his finger. He caught a glance of her evil stare and averted his eys.  
  
"What?" he replied, as insolent as he dared.  
  
"Why the hell don't you want to move? You've been reluctant about it since your boss suggested it! It's a great town! It's perfect for raising kids! The people are friendly, the schools are great. You should know, you spent your last three years of high school here, and your sister practically grew up here, and still visits every summer! Why don't you wanna move?" During her ranting, she had walked closer to the table and now stood behind one of the chairs.   
  
"You don't understand," Dean muttered.  
  
Margaret sighed. She had known this was a sore subject when she brought it up, but she softened and tried to get something out of him.  
  
"You're right, I don't understand," she murmurmed. "So why don't you tell me?" She sat next to her husband, placing her hands over his. "Why did you move away the second you graduated high school, and why haven't you been back?"  
  
Dean looked into her eyes and began speaking.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Jen's stomach grumbled as she trudged back down the stairs. Jon bounced as he ran around her and down the stairs, babbling the whole time. Jen groaned at him and rubbed her head as she remembered the way her mother had looked at her father. It had been the beginning of a fight, she could tell. That made, what, six since Sunday? Damn, it was only Wednesday. Jen groaned again as another thought entered her head: divorce. Her parents had been fighting a lot lately. Eighteen years was a long time. Especially when it was half of her mother's life. Jen remembered when she had realized that her parents had gotten married only because her mother was pregnant. Maybe they had been too young. Eighteen is too young to get married. Her father had been twenty-five. That wasn't too young. Jen shuddered as a thought that was not new to her ran down her spine. Maybe, since she was the reason they got married, it would be her fault if they got divorced. Jen shook her head, sending all thoughts of divorce flying from her head. She went to the front desk and asked about getting dinner.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
"She cheated on you?" Dean nodded grimly, hating to relive it.  
  
"And then the town hated _you_ for breaking up with her?" Margaret asked incredulously. Dean nodded again. "Huh."  
  
"Is that it? 'Huh'?" Dean asked after a few minutes.  
  
"Well, I don't know what to say! It's a great town! You ruined their sweetheart!"  
  
"_I_ ruined their _sweetheart_?"  
  
"Well, you said that Rory Gilmore was the darling of Stars Hollow! You said that they almost killed you the first time you broke up, and were even worse the second time!"  
  
"_I ruined_ their _sweetheart_?"  
  
"You said--" Margaret stopped. She held up her hand and the two of them listened intently for a second. Sure enough, someone softly knocked on the door. Margaret got up and walked to the door, looking back only once, with a look that said, "This never happened." Margaret opened the door.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Jen winced as the door to her parents room opened slowly. She had heard their fight and hadn't wanted to enter in the middle of it, but somehow felt compelled to deliver this news to her father as soon as possible. She hoped it would help him want to move to Stars Hollow.  
  
"Jenny!" Jen winced again at her mother and father's bright smiles. They looked happy. Way too happy.  
  
"Sorry to disturb you," Jen started, but she was immediately interrupted by her father.  
  
"Nonsense! You're not disturbing us!" Dean steered Jen to a chair and plopped her down. Then Dean and Margaret each sat in a chair on the other side of the table and stared at her, with big, expectant smiles on their faces.  
  
"Okay. Dad," Jen turned to her father and pulled out her notebook, "I ran into a few people today who told me to tell you hello."  
  
"Oh, really? Who?" Dean's smile grew considerably smaller.  
  
"Mrs. Clark, from Stars Hollow High, says hello; some guy said you are not allowed to come near Luke's diner or Rory; Lane Kim, now Cho, says hi, and so does Rory Mariano."  
  
Dean had been getting considerably paler with everything Jen said, but the last name caused all of the color to go out of his face, and he jumped up and ran out the door. Jen and Mrgaret both stared at the now open door, not daring to follow him on one of his rages, neither knowing the cause of this one.   
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
A/N: This one was all about Dean's side, and his family, but I'll be switching back over soon, and then back and forth. 


	6. The Forgotten Anniversary

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter Six: The Forgotten Anniversary  
  
Disclaimer: Standard. I own pretty much nothing  
  
A/N: Thanks to everyone for their suggestions; I appreciate it.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Chris walked into the diner at nine o'clock, thirteen hours after he left. The crowds were dying down after the dinner rush, but Rory was still occupied, so Chris tried to sneak upstairs. The second his foot touched the bottom step, his mother called, "Stay right where you are!" without looking up.  
  
Chris sat on a stool, and slumped, defeated, before remembering what was in his backpack. He pulled out the bag from the video store, where he had had to travel behind the Rory curtain, but only after he had shown identification stating that he was cartified by Rory to travel behind it.  
  
Rory approached quickly.  
  
"It's 9:00."  
  
"Yeah?" Chris asked, so much like Jess, it drove Rory crazy.  
  
"Don't you turn into your father now! School gets out at three--although, actually, that has no effect on you, because my mother said that she saw you and somme girl walking hand in hand through the town square at noon!"  
  
"Lorelai's fifty-eight. She's mistaken."  
  
"You know damn well she isn't! I don't want to hear that you have skipped school ever again! You are in big trouble!! You're--you're grounded! Yeah!"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Except fo working in the diner!"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"What's that?" Rory noticed the bag.  
  
"Oh, this?" _Plan B._ "A gift." _A bribe._  
  
"Really?" the little girl in Rory asked. "For who?"  
  
"For you." Chris started pulling objects out of the bag. "Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Some Kind of Wonderful. I figured it's the first time that you've seen Lane for awhile, so you could have a movie night. You and Lane, Lorelai, and Sookie, or whoever. Oh, and a card for you and Dad, and a free babysitting pass."  
  
"Thank you for the movies, sweetie. But why do we need a free babysitting pass, and what's the card for?"  
  
"You and Dad."  
  
"I know that, but why?"  
  
"Mom, what day is it?"  
  
"Wednesday."  
  
"Wednesday the-?"  
  
"Wednesday the twenty-third."  
  
"Of-?"  
  
"Febuary."  
  
"Yes, and what has happened on the twenty-third of Febuary for the past twenty years?"  
  
"Oh, my god! Our anniversary!I forgot!! I can't believe I forgot!"  
  
"Did you get him a present?"  
  
"Yes, of course I got him a present. A damn good one, too."  
  
"Great. Where is it?"  
  
"At Lorelai's. Oh, I gotta go get it! Watch the diner for me, would you?" Rory grabbed her coat and keys.  
  
"Sure. Where are the kids?"  
  
"Same place I'm going. Be right back." Rory ran out the door. Chris just shook his head.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Jess lit the last candle. All of the lights in the apartment were off. The younger kids were at Luke and Lorelai's, and Chris was watching the diner. The apartment was deserted. Jess's present to Rory was at her place on the table, near the romantic dinner that was set there. Frank Sinatra was crooning in the background, and everything was perfect. Except for the fact that the girl who mattered most was not there. Jess sat down to wait. He didn't have to wait long. Rory burst in the door a few minutes later. Her coat was still on, her purse was falling off her shoulder, she was clutching a large wrapped package in her arms, and her hair was flying all over the place. She was slightly out of breath, having run all the way up the stairs, but she was still beautiful. Even after all these years, she still took Jess's breath away. She set everything in her arms down and they moved together. The kiss was long and sweet, and they broke apart only for presents. Rory handed hers to Jess first.  
  
"Open it," her eyes were bright in the candlelight, and she seemed more eager than Jess. He ripped off the wrapping paper, his eyes lighting up as he saw what it was.  
  
"'Knulp: Three Tales From the Life of Knulp' by Hermann Hesse," he whispered reverently. He carefully opened the cover of the large hardback book, and read the copyright date.  
  
"This is a first edition." Jess looked at Rory. "This is a first English edition."  
  
"Well, I knew you couldn't read German, so." Rory laughed nervously at the look her husband was giving her.  
  
"Wow, this- this is amazing. You're amazing." Jess pulled Rory in for a hug.  
  
"No, you're amazing."  
  
"Wait until after your present for that." He handed her a medium size cardboard box.   
  
"Ah, festive," she laughed.  
  
"Just open it." Now Jess was the eager one. Rory opened the cardboard box, and pulled out three wrapped packages. She ripped open the first one to reveal a velvet jwelry case. Rory looked at Jess and ripped open the other two packages. Two more velvet jewelry cases. Rory looked back at Jess. He nodded eagerly. She lifted up the first case and opened it.   
  
"Wow."  
  
Inside the case lay an emerald tennis bracelet. Rory picked up the other two cases and opened them. An emerald necklace and emerald earrings.  
  
"Wow." Rory jumped on top of Jess and her lips attacked his hungrily. He responded with as much fervor and they headed to the bedroom, only stopping to blow out the candles. Rory is, after all, careful Rory. 


	7. Luke and Lorelai

Title: Expect the Unexpected  
Chapter Seven: Luke and Lorelai  
  
Disclaimer: Standard  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
"Luke. Luuuke. LUUUUUUUKE!" Lorelai yelled up the stairs.  
  
"What?" Lorelai turned around to face Luke.  
  
"Luke, you shouldn't get so mad."  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"I was wondering..."  
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"Will you please, please, please watch Willy Wonka with me?"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Why should I?"  
  
"Because, it's movie night, and Rory's busy."  
  
"Yeah, but you have two sweet, innocent grandkids you could be corrupting with sugar as we speak."  
  
"Yes, but you're sexier." Lorelai moved closer to Luke.  
  
"Oh, no. No, no, you're not gonna get me with those eyes this time."   
  
Lorelai just got closer.  
  
"No, no, no, no...fine, I'll watch with you."  
  
"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"  
  
"Yeah, but you owe me."  
  
"Don't worry, we'll have fun after the kids go home."  
  
"When are they going home?"  
  
Lorelai looked away.   
  
"Lorelai." Luke got that voice he gets.  
  
"Tomorrow." Lorelai responded weakly.  
  
"Tomorrow? Lorelai, you didn't tell me that!"  
  
"Well, what's the problem? They're cute kids, and they're sweet, and we do have to take them to school in the morning, and Chris is coming over in a few hours, but you get up early, they're not any trouble, and then we can send them back to their parents!"  
  
"Okay, it's fine, I was just surprised. I was hoping to spend time with you." Luke kissed Lorelai sweetly. She sighed happily.   
  
"Okay, that was great, I'll spend time with you tomorrow," she kissed Luke again, "but right now can you go to Doose's and buy out all of the junk food and then stop for ice cream?"  
  
Luke sighed. "Lorelai, you are killing yourself with all of that sugar."  
  
"Well, then, I'll die happy. Please?" Lorelai pouted.  
  
"No, Lorelai."  
  
She whimpered.  
  
"Fine. I'm going." Luke grabbed his jacket and headed to the door.  
  
"Oh, and make sure we have enough coffee for the morning." Luke groaned. "I love you!" Lorelai shouted as the door slammed. She smiled, then headed toward Rory's old room. She pushed open the door to reveal the younger Luke sprawled across Rory's old bed with a book in his hands, and Laura on the floor reading a Barbie book. Lorelai smiled at her daughter's children.  
  
"Wow, are you guys having fun?"  
  
"Yeah." Laura and Luke both answered.  
  
"Okay, well, I hate to tear you away, but who wants to watch a movie?"  
  
"Yay!" Laura jumped up and down.  
  
"Yay!" Lorelai copied her.  
  
"Um, are we going to eat all of those unhealthy things you had last time?" Luke spoke up.  
  
"Yeah, but big Luke'll probably bring back some healthy stuff for the two of you.  
  
"Okay, cool." Luke picked his book up and ran into the living room.  
  
"Grandma?" Laura tugged on Lorelai's jeans. Lorelai picked her up. "What movie are we watching?"  
  
"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But, can you please call me Lorelai?" Laura looked confused. "Well, here's how you say it. Laura," Lorelai pointed to her, "lie."  
  
"I don't lie!" Laura started crying.  
  
"No, no, sweetie, I didn't say you lied. No, I didn't mean you....Fine, call me Grandma."  
  
"Grandma!" Laura immediately stopped crying and hugged Lorelai hard around the neck. 


	8. Panic Alert

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter Eight: Panic Alert  
  
Disclaimer: Standard. Nothing new here.  
  
Okay, I just realized that I made Dean run out of the Inn and do nothing, so that will be talked about here.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Lorelai woke up at six-thirty Thursday morning. She rolled over and looked at the empty space in the bed next to her. She groaned and sat up.   
  
"Another early morning," she muttered. She rubbed her eyes and stretched. Something on the bedside table caught her eye.  
  
"Oh, my sweet husband!" Lorelai jumped out of bed and grabbed the steaming hot cup of coffee off of the table. She took a long, sweet, caffeine-filled sip. She sighed happily and ambled downstairs to wake up her grandchildren.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Rory happily woke up late in her husband's arms, for the first time in a very long time. She checked the clock. Six forty-five. She didn't have to get her kids off to school, and the diner could stand to open later than seven for once, so she pulled Jess's arms tighter around her and went back to sleep.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Laura was standing at the door in her very pink and sparkly jacket that Lorelai had made for her for her sixth birthday. She watched the chaos that frequented Lorelai's house on schoolday mornings. Lorelai was currently slumped at the table over her fifth cup of coffee. Luke was getting his jacket on. Grandpa Luke was in the car getting it heated up. Chris was apparently still asleep.  
  
Lorelai looked around. She realized that Chris still wasn't up, so she broke the only rule she'd made about having a teenage boy at her house. She burst into the guest room (backwards with her hands over her eyes), flipped on the light, and said "Come on, Chris, up up up! Time for school!"  
  
There was no answer, not even a fierce scrambling for clothes or a groan. Lorelai's hand slowly dropped down.  
  
"Chris?"  
  
The bed was either made up or hadn't been touched. Lorelai suspected the latter. Sometimes traits skip a generation, and she hoped that one of her worst traits hadn't landed squarely on Chris's shoulders. Angry tears filled her eyes as she ran outside to her husband.  
  
Luke was sitting in the car with Laura in the backseat and the younger Luke in the passenger seat. Lorelai opened the driver's side door to a blast of music.  
  
"Luke! I need you."  
  
"What is it, Lorelai?" Luke stumbled out of the Jeep. "I was jamming to the CD."  
  
Lorelai snorted.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You were jamming?"  
  
"What? Isn't that what you say?"  
  
"No," Lorelai snorted again, "and besides, it was a Barney CD!"  
  
"Fine. Whatever. What is you want?"  
  
It hit Lorelai again. "Luke..." she trailed off.  
  
"What? What is it? You're scaring me, Lorelai."  
  
"It's...it's bad."  
  
"What is it? Is someone hurt? Who is it?"  
  
"I don't know where Chris went."  
  
"Oh, no."  
  
"Oh, yes. I don't think he's been home all night."  
  
"Oh....Dammit!" Luke suddenly burst out, slamming his fist down on the hood of the Jeep, making the Jeep jump.  
  
"Luke! Luke, calm down. It's okay."  
  
"No, it's not, Lorelai! This kid has that horrible attitude like his father, and now he's gonna turn into you, staying out all night, and he's gonna get some girl pregnant and ruin her life, and it's just started! We--" Luke caught sight of Lorelai's hurt face. "Oh, Lorelai, honey, I'm sorry, I--"  
  
"You're right," she interrupted, her eyes full of tears, "I guess I did ruin my life. If I had never gotten pregnant, I wouldn't have had Rory and I wouldn't have come here and I wouldn't have met you. And now I'm thinking that that was one of the worst things that ever happened to me." Lorelai spun on her heel and fled into the house. Luke, torn, took a step toward her, before giving up and slumping back to the car to take his two good grandkids (in his opinion) to school.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
_Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!_  
  
"Hello?"   
  
"Rory! There's something you ought to know. Have you been downstairs yet?"  
  
"Um, no. Lane, what's this about?"  
  
"Just come downstairs. Bring Jess."  
  
"Okay, see you later." Rory placed the phone back on the hook softly and wondered what had happened.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Lorelai sat on the couch with the phone in her hands, softly crying. She had hoped that Luke would come into the house, like he had so many times before, but she had heard the car start and drive away. She had tried to call Rory, but the phone was busy (at seven a.m.), so she had just hung up and started crying. Then fatigue overwhelmed her and she stretched out and tried to cry herself to sleep.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Luke went home the long way for two reasons: he wanted to stop by his diner and see how his nephew and daughter were doing (boy was his family life complicated) and he dreaded going home, knowing that Lorelai was there and that he hadn't followed after her. He had a feeling that she didn't want to see hi m right now.  
  
Luke slowed down as he got closer to the diner; there was a big crowd around it. He couldn't see what was going on; he figured Rory and Jess were kissing or fighting and everyone was watching. He parked the Jeep, got out, and fought his way to the front. What he saw there he never would have believed if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Chris woke up on the bridge in the park. He kissed Jen and woke her up, explaining that he needed to get to school. He grabbed his backpack from where he had stashed it behind the bushes, planted another kiss on Jen's forehead, and dashed around the corner to the school.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Dean woke up with a stiff neck. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his neck with one hand. With the other hand he tried to raise himself up. He stood up and realized where he was. He was standing in the middle of the diner. There was broken glass all around him. He spun around and looked through the gaping hole in the large window to find the town staring back at him, Luke with the most prominant scowl. Dean turned around to get away from it only to find himself face to face to an almost identical scowl on the face of Jess, but he didn't have to look at that scowl for long, for he hardly had time to look pitiful for Rory before he hit the ground and blacked out. 


	9. Rumors

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter Nine: Rumors  
  
Disclaimer: Standard. Nothing new.  
  
A/N: This story is just random people around Stars Hollow babbling rumors, that I hope will explain some things. But I will also right a new story soon that tells the real story. But I'm busy now, so this will tide you over. I don't know how much is going to be action, it's probably more dialouge. Have you ever seen Christopher Returns from the first season? Well, this is sort of based on that, just the rumors though. They spread quickly. Anyway, here's my story.   
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
"Did you hear?"  
  
(A/N: Okay, really sorry, last time, I promise. (no i don't) This thought just struck me: this chapter would make a good broadway song. You know, "did ya hear" "did ya hear" "did ya hear the new rumor today?" Anyway, that thought just struck me, but I'll let you get back to your story now.)  
  
"No, hear what?"  
  
"Well, it's about Rory."  
  
"Sweet little Rory? What was it? Did her lousy husband leave her?"  
  
"No, her lousy ex-boyfriend crashed into the diner!"  
  
"No! Really?"  
  
"Patty, what are you doing loitering on the street in front of my store?"  
  
"I'm not loitering, Taylor, I'm just standing here."  
  
"No, Patty, I've been timing you. You've been standing here for five minutes chatting up my employees."  
  
"I don't mind."  
  
"Yes, see that, Taylor, Kirk doesn't mind."  
  
Taylor sighed. Sometimes Miss Patty was insuferable. "What are you talking about anyway?"  
  
"Well-"  
  
"Shush, Kirk, you don't know the whole story yet. Let me tell it." And Miss Patty was off, esctatic to be the center of attention once again.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Lane walked into the music store that he had frequented so much in her last year of high school. A group of people were gathered around the cash register. Lane walked to the cash register with her purchase (a pair of drunsticks as a peace offering to her future son-in-law) but couldn't get very close. She shifted her weight from foot to foot and caught a snatch of a new rumor.  
  
"His daughter told him that Jess said to never come to the diner and he freaked out. He got drunk and--"  
  
"No, he didn't get drunk, he got high."  
  
"No, I heard he just jumped through the window."  
  
"Excuse me," Lane broke in, "but have any of you bothered to get the true story from the Marianos or the Foresters themselves? Or did you just run write ahead with something you didn't even know was true? Do you have any respect for people's lives?"  
  
"What about the rumor I was told the other day about your daughter being pregnant and alone? Was that true?"  
  
"NO!! My oldest daughter is engaged to be married, and there is no talk of pregnancy. Now, if you will excuse me." She pushed her way through the crowd, purchased her items, and pushed her way back through the stunned crowd.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
It was all over town within six hours of Jess and Rory finding Dean in the diner. Dean Forester, Rory's boyfriend from high school, her first love, who was exiled from Stars Hollow after the second break-up, had gotten drunk one night and in a drunken rage had jumped through the plate-glass window of Luke's Diner. No, he had been on painkillers, that's why he felt no pain, and he only did it cause he was still in love with Rory. No, Rory had broken through the window to get to Dean. Dean was the real father of Christopher Hayden Mariano, and Rory was still in love with her first love. No.... 


	10. ExplanationsSort Of

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter Ten: Explanations  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own the Gilmore Girls or the characters; I do, however, own the new characters (there aren't that many) and the situations.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
The room slowly came into focus, and it didn't look familiar. A soft hand caressed Dean's cheek, and then a cold cloth wiped his forehead. He looked at the wrist above his eyes, and followed the arm to the girl attached to it. Or the woman. Dean looked deeply into her eyes, and she blushed and withdrew her hand. The doctor burst into the room and noticed the couple. She smiled.  
  
"Hello, Dean." the doctor said softly. "Do you know where you are?"  
  
"Um, no?" Dean guessed as he looked around the unfamiliar room.  
  
"Don't worry," the doctor smiled, "that's fine. I'm Dr. Joelle. You're in the hospital. You were brought in with lacerations covering most of your body, a black eye, and a bump on the head. We took a head C.T.- an X-ray of your head- and cleaned the glass out of your cuts. It looks like everything's fine, and your wife can take you home now."  
  
"Oh, no, she's not my-" Dean sat up too quickly and sank back into the pillows.  
  
"Yes, and because of the nature of the bump, you should probably move slowly and rest for a few days at least. Take care." Dr. Joelle backed out of the room.  
  
"Should you be here?" Dean asked sulkily of the woman by his side.  
  
"Well, my husband was the one who knocked you out. I figured it was only neighborly, but if you don't care." Rory gathered her coat and stalked toward the door.  
  
"Rory, wait!"  
  
She paused with the door halfway open.  
  
"Just let me explain. Please."  
  
"Fine." Rory dropped into a chair near the door and placed her coat over the arm. She crossed her arms and legs and glared at Dean. "What the hell did you do to my diner, anyway?"  
  
"Um, I don't remember."  
  
"That's crap and you know it! What the hell did you bust through the window for?"  
  
"Wow, ending a sentence with a preposition. You must be really mad."  
  
"I am! And I don't feel like joking or kidding or anything. I swear, if you think it was bad last time, the town is going to kill you this time. I mean rip you apart from limb-to-limb. And if they don't, Jess and Luke sure will. Or maybe me. This was a horrible thing for you to do, Dean! You jumped through the window of the diner! Why? Why the hell would you do that? No, never mind, I don't want to know. What possessed you to do that? Are you crazy or something? I guess if you were mentally ill or something, I might be able to only run you out of town, instead of killing you. So what was it?" Rory stood with her arms crossed across her chest, tapping her feet and waiting for an answer. Dean had never felt more in love with her. 


	11. The True Explanations

Title: Expect the Unexpected  
Chapter 11: The True Explanations  
  
A/N: Very sorry to drag this out, I've just been working on an ending and why Dean would do this. I hope this justifies it.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
The hospital from before.  
  
"I-I'm still in love with you."  
  
"What? What the hell kind of answer is that?" Rory was taken aback.  
  
"I think that's why I did that. I'm still in love with you."  
  
"What did you do exactly?"  
  
"Uh-" Dean's mind flashed back to the night before. "I- My daughter came into the hotel room. She told me about how she had met all these people in town who wanted to say hi. Let's see, Jess said something like 'If you ever come near Rory or the diner I'll beat you so bad you'll have to pee through your nose.'" Dean looked up at Rory to confirm this. She nodded.  
  
"Sounds like something Jess would say."  
  
"Yeah." Dean snorted. "And then Jen said something about you saying hi, but she said your last name was Mariano, and I knew you'd married that punk, and I just got so mad, and-" Dean knocked over a piece of medical equipment.  
  
A doctor rushed in and ordered the two of them out of the hospital. They continued the conversation on the ride into Stars Hollow.  
  
"Okay, so you got mad at me and Jess, but what did you _do_ exactly?"  
  
"Well, I ran around Stars Hollow for a couple hours."  
  
"Screaming 'Stella!' and ripping your shirt?"  
  
"No. And after a while I found myself in front of the diner. It was closed and dark, and the apartment upstairs was dark too."  
  
Rory smiled as she remembered what they had been doing in the dark. Dean thought the smile was for him and barrelled on, ruining her memory.  
  
"And I pulled this bench from the square-"  
  
"The one that's always loose?" Rory interrupted.  
  
"Yeah. And I placed it in the middle of the street, and I jumped."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I don't know. Because you hurt me and I wanted to hurt you, I guess."  
  
"But it's Luke's diner. It's the most beloved structure in the town."  
  
"I know. I don't know what I was thinking."  
  
"Me either, but if I was you, I would pack up my family and head out of town. Just forget about the reunion."  
  
"Yeah, that's what I would do, except for the fact that my family loves this town, and they wanna move here."  
  
"Oh, that's a dilemma."  
  
"And, my daughter is in love with your son."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Yeah, she met him at the diner. She's absolutely infatuated with him."  
  
"Oh, someone's in trouble."  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Rory ran into the diner. Chris was sweeping up the glass, and he looked up as the door slamming caused the window frame to rattle and a few more shards of glass to fall out. Rory looked at him.  
  
"You-Are-Dead!"  
  
"What'd I do?"  
  
"You perfectly well what you did! It's not gonna get me that mad, but your father is gonna kill you. Not to mention Luke. And maybe Lorelai."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Wouldn't you like to know. You just keep sweeping up that glass. You're gonna be doing a lot more sweeping from now on!" Rory took the stairs two at a time and ran into the apartment. "Jess?"  
  
"On the phone!"  
  
Rory made her way through the apartment to the spacious family room. Jess was sitting at the table on the cordless phone. He had a pad in front of him and was writing in it. He held up a finger, said, "Thank you. Goodbye." and hung up.  
  
"What's up, sweetie?"  
  
"Well, I was talking to Dean, to get the story for the insurance and the gossip chain, and his daughter is in love with our son, and apparently our son feels the same about the girl."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Yeah. Guess we shouldn't have named him Christopher Hayden. Sometimes I think names determine your personality."  
  
"Yeah. If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go kick some ass."  
  
"Jess!"  
  
"Yeah?" He turned around.  
  
"Don't hurt Chris too much. Dean I don't care about, but no murder."  
  
"Okay." With a twinkle in his eyes and a smile on his lips, he stalked down the stairs. 


	12. Fights

Title: Expect the Unexpected  
Chapter Twelve: Fights  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls. I don't own the characters, I don't own the names, I only own the situations. I also don't own Gilmore Girls in the story Life As I Know It. *hint* Oh, and I don't own Friends in the story The One With The Flashfoward, which, if I may tug the cords of my self-esteem for a sec, is _extremely_ funny, especially with all my ramblings. Anyhoo.   
  
A/N: This story is a total continuation of the chapter before, it picks up right where the last one took off. If you haven't read Chapter 11(although you probably have) don't read this chapter it will make no sense whatsoever.  
  
  
  
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Rory sighed and sat back in her chair. Her life was so messed up sometimes. Rory looked at the table and Jess's messy scrawl caught her eye. She picked up the tablet he was writing on earlier. It was the estimate from the glass place for the window. Rory gasped at the price and then her earlier rage overtook her and she got a determined look on her face. She stood up quickly and stalked through the aparment to the door. She stopped short a few feet of it when the phone rang. She paused and decided to wait for the answering machine to pick up. It clicked on.  
  
"Rory?" Lorelai's tearful voice sounded meek and scared on the machine. Rory hoped to God it was the tape making her sound that way.   
  
"Rory, it's your mother. Luke said this horrible thing to me, and then I ran in the house, and he didn't come after me. And I've already eaten a couple gallons of ice cream and gone through a few thousand boxes of tissues, and Johnny from the pizza place says he's gonna make me pay my tab if I order another pizza, and I just need a girl. Please, I just..."   
  
Lorelai started crying.  
  
"Come over as soon as you get this message, and don't forget to erase it first. Okay. Um. Okay."  
  
The phone clicked and Rory would have heard the dial tone if she hadn't already been on her way to her mother's house with the movies that Chris had given her the day before.  
  
  
  
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The Dragonfly was incredibly crowded, as the town had heard that Dean was staying there. Sookie was panicking. Lorelai was no where to be found and it looked like people literally were going to riot in the streets. Sookie was randomly grabbing friendly faces (of which there weren't many) to help her herd the stampede out the door. Sookie almost ran into a couple of people, and once she did run into someone, and she toppled over and he helped her up.   
  
"Luke!"  
  
"Yeah, hi, Sookie. So do you know where I can find that damn Forester kid?"   
  
"Well, I guess that depends. Are you gonna kill him?"  
  
"I don't know. At the very least I'm going to wring his neck for busting in the diner window."  
  
"Yeah, when you wring someone's neck, you kill them. And I'm sure Lorelai wouldn't appreciate it if you went to jail."  
  
"Yeah." Luke didn't look at Sookie and wandered away, guiltily.  
  
  
  
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Jess immediately headed for the bridge. Chris was sitting on the edge, dangling his feet over the water. He had his arms around a girl's shoulders, and her head was resting on his shoulder. There was something in the couple that reminded Jess of him and Rory, and he slowly backed away and decided to forgive Chris for skipping out on the diner.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Rory didn't knock on the door, just walked in. She found her mother cuddled on the couch with a tub of ice cream and a spoon. Rory strode over to the couch, dropped the bag of movies on the floor and hugged her mother as tight as she could.  
  
  
  
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Luke sat in his car, his feelings tearing himself apart. He finally made a decision and pulled out of the Dragonfly's parking lot.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Chris and Jen, feeling akin to Romeo and Juliet, parted on the bridge with one sweet kiss.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Jess made his way through the thinning crowd at the Dragonfly and up the stairs, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. 


	13. Expect the Unexpected

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Lucky Chapter Thirteen: Expect The Unexpected  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own the Gilmore Girls, although I do watch the Gilmore Girls, especially last night, 9/15, because it's the pilot (on the WB at seven/six central) and I hadn't actually seen the pilot, and of course I'm gonna watch on the twenty-fourth, as Lorelai/Chris/Sherry and Rory/Jess/Dean battle it out for the A storyline. Anyway. I'll stop plugging the show.   
  
  
  
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Lorelai fell asleep not long after the conclusion of The Breakfast Club. Rory was slightly worried about her mother, because for once she hadn't yelled every single one of Judd Nelson's lines with him. Lorelai had also been unusually quiet during Sixteen Candles, too. She hadn't even laughed at Long Duk Dong. Rory slowly got up off of the couch and cleaned up. She threw away the empty ice cream containers, and put the spoons in the sink. She pulled a blanket over her mother, turned off the television, and kissed her on her cheek. Rory gathered her purse and put on her coat and opened the door to a very nervous Luke.  
  
  
  
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Chris found the diner very empty, and the apartment above it even emptier. There was a note on the table in the family room that included the estimate from the glass place. Chris whistled at the enormous amount. Then a thought hit him. Dean broke the glass. Jess has to pay for the glass. He's not very happy about that. Dean is Jen's dad. Jess wants to hurt Jen's dad. Chris ran out of the house, prepared to fight his father for his girlfriend's.  
  
  
  
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Jess made it to the second floor of the Inn. He paused in front of room 202, then took the plunge and unlocked the door with the key he had stolen from downstairs. He slowly pushed the door open and stared.  
  
  
  
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"Luke! What are you doing here?"  
  
"Uh. What are _you_ doing here?"  
  
"Mom was crying into the phone." Rory crossed her arms over her chest and glared. Luke shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to say that, and then she just ran into the house, and then the diner was ruined, and so I was gonna beat that damn Jones kid, and then Sookie got me feeling bad, and now I don't know what to do. What should I do?" Luke looked so forlorn that Rory felt sorry for him.  
  
"Go buy her something that she'd like. Probably something that's either pink and sparkly or loaded with caffeine. Preferably both. Then sit next to her on the couch and wait for her to wake up. And when she does, tell her how sorry you are for whatever you said, promise to make it up for her, and watch a movie with her and do whatever weird thing she wants to do, and she'll love you even longer than whe would have before. It'll work, Luke, I promise, because it looks like she loves you a lot, maybe even more than she loved my dad. And I love ya, too." Rory pecked Luke on the cheek and got back in her car and drove off.  
  
  
  
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Chris ran up the front steps of the Dragonfly and arrived breathless at the front desk just in time to see his dad enter a room on the second floor.   
  
"Nonononononononononononononononononono!!!"  
  
Chris ran up the stairs, turning heads in the group of piranhas waiting to kill as he showed wild abandon by screaming and potentially embarrasing his already over-gosipped mother. The death scenes from _Romeo and Juliet_ just kept flashing through his brain. 


	14. Vulnerability

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter 14: Vulnerability  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the Gilmore Girls.  
  
A/N: Okay, I know the last chapter was way too short and sort of cliched, but this one is going to be better I hope. I go in cycles, and right now my mind is working over time on Life As I Know It, which actually you can read *hint hint*, so this one has not gotten my full attention. But I am going to work on this as hard as I can, and I hope it's better. Also, thanks to those who reviewed! As usual, I adore all of you! Oh, and before I forget...what's Bookends? Oh, and this is kind of corny, but utterly sweet.  
  
  
  
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Jess sank onto the bed in room 202 at the Dragonfly Inn, remembering the first time he stepped foot into it. He was trasported back to the day, the feeling in the air, and the first time he had made peace with his mother-in-law.  
  
**  
  
Jess was twenty-three and incredibly nervous. He looked in the mirror at his reflection. All dressed up in a tux. Jess never thought he'd wear a tux. He actually never thought he'd get married, especially not with Liz for a mother. But he was in love with this girl, this girl that hadn't talked to him for four years and then come home and answered yes to the most important question Jess could ever ask. He stuck his hand in his pocket and fingered the piece of paper on which he'd written his vows. The two perpetual readers had decided to write their own vows, and Lorelai even kidded that the reason was that they didn't want to stop reading, even during the wedding ceremony. Speaking of Lorelai...  
  
The door to Luke's former apartment slowly swung open and Lorelai stepped into the room.  
  
"Can I come in?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Lorelai seemed pretty nervous. She aimlessly wandered around the apartment, and almost knocked over a table. Jess picked it up and looked her over.  
  
"You look great, Lorelai."  
  
"Thank you, Jess. I just gotta be glad Rory let me pick out the bridesmaid dresses."  
  
"I thought you bought them first and told her later."  
  
"I did."  
  
"Oh." Jess laughed.  
  
"Do you think we're funny?"  
  
"Yes. I think you're funny, and crazy, and wonderful, and I am thrilled that Rory is allowing me to marry into her family."  
  
"Oh." Lorelai blushed.  
  
"Look at us. We're having a nice polite conversation."  
  
"Yeah, and you're even complimenting me. Rory would be proud."  
  
"I would do anything to make her happy."  
  
"Oh, that reminds me why I'm here. I just want to tell you that if you do anything to make my baby cry, I will wring your neck, chop you up into little pieces, and grind those little pieces in my coffee grinder."  
  
"Ooh, death by the wedding present I bought you. Harsh." Jess half-laughed, half-winced. Lorelai laughed along with him and then gave him a hug. He returned the hug. They broke apart and Lorelai handed him something.  
  
"Here. This was given to me by Rory's father, and we mutually decided when we split up that we would give it to the guy that married our baby." Lorelai shoved a velvet box at Jess. He hesitated, but opened it.  
  
"Wow. This is amazing." It was a ring, with a grouping of small diamonds at the top of the band, and diamonds inset into the silver band all around.  
  
"I know. It was Christopher's grandmother's engagement ring, and he proposed to me with it."  
  
"You were married?"  
  
"God, no. Not before Luke," Lorelai looked at her much smaller ring happily, "but Chris proposed. Have you met him?"  
  
"Not yet."  
  
"I'll send him up."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Lorelai hugged Jess one more time before heading downstairs to the diner. Chris came up later, and threatened Jess to within an inch of his life. Jess was again threatened by the elder Gilmores, Luke, Lane, and a few townspeople. A few hours later Jess was dancing with his brand-new wife in the banquet hall at the Dragonfly Inn, and not long after that, they were spending their wedding night in room 202. Jess recalled the walk through the door, Rory in her fluffy wedding dress (courtesy of Lorelai) in his arms, and the two of them trying to stuff all of the crinoline through the doorframe. He then remembered the wedding night, and without meaning to, he blushed. Imagine, Jess Mariano, conqueror of women, blushing at the memory of his wedding night. But the truth was, Rory was the only girl he had ever really been with. He told her that every once in a while, always to show just how dedicated he always was to his true love. She said it was the same with her, and Jess appreciated her every day and every night for everything she did for him, her town, and her children. He really loved her. 


	15. Fated Couples

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter 15: Fated Couples  
  
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Gilmore Girls. Bet you weren't expecting that.  
  
A/N: This chapter focuses on what I consider fated couples. You'll see who they are in a minute, but first I have to warn you, this story contains spoilers to the movie Sixteen Candles, but if you watch it the end is absolutely obvious anyway. Enjoy!  
  
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Lorelai sat up on the couch. She noticed that Rory had cleaned up the junk food and Kleenex mess, but she'd left the videos. Lorelai stood up and folded up the blanket that had been draped over her. She carried the blanket and pillow upstairs and threw them in her room. She walked back downstairs and plopped on the couch, ready to transport herself to a time when she was young and...well, she wasn't carefree, because she was a pregnant teenager/teenage mother, but she didn't think about that. She just pressed play.  
  
"Damn feathers!"  
  
Lorelai was suddenly aware that a grumbling Luke was in the kitchen. She turned off the movie and headed there. As she rounded the corner, she saw Luke at the table in a midst of pink. Pink fluffy stuff, as a matter of fact.  
  
"Did a pink chicken die in here?" she smirked.  
  
"No. I was just trying to glue pink fluffy stuff onto this coffee cup"--he lifted up a white mug with glued-down pink fluffy things on a few places--"and then I was gonna pour you a cup of coffee into it"--he pointed to the brewing coffee behind Lorelai--"and surprise you when you woke up. But you woke up, and the fluffy things wouldn't stick, and now I can't surprise you. I'm sorry, Lorelai."  
  
"Oh, that's okay. I'll get Rory to make me a big huge fluffy coffee cup, and _then_ you can put your coffee in it. And when I say big huge, I mean HUGE!" Lorelai held her arms in a circle as far in front of her as she could.  
  
"No, I don't mean about the cup. I mean about all those horrible things I said to you earlier. I didn't mean it. I was just saying those things in the heat of the moment. I'm really, really sorry, Lorelai."  
  
Lorelai sank into a kitchen chair as she remembered what he'd said earlier that day. "And you didn't come after me."  
  
"And I didn't come after you. But didn't you hear what happened at the diner?"  
  
"No! Oh, my god, what happened?"  
  
"Well, Dean Forester jumped through the big window."  
  
"Rory's Dean?"  
  
"Well, he used to be Rory's Dean. But anyway, then Jess punched him out, and he went to the hospital and there was a whole big mess. I'm really sorry."  
  
"Wow. What a mess. And Rory came over here to wallow with me? What a trooper."  
  
"Yeah, she's absolutely great."  
  
"I guess that's the only good thing about my out-of-control youth."  
  
"I'm really sorry, Lorelai."  
  
"It's okay. I know. I'm teasing."  
  
"I love you."  
  
"I love you, too."  
  
They kissed.  
  
  
  
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Chris burst into the room he had seen his father enter and was surprised to see his father alone in an empty hotel room, lost in his thoughts. Chris backed out of the room and made his way downstairs. He stole behind the desk and got the guest register from its secret spot under a pile of fake books. He heaved it onto the table and opened it to the month of Febuary 2028. He found the week and the date and the Foresters in rooms 210 and 212. Chris looked back up at the room his father had entered into. Room 202. He flipped through the book under 202 but couldn't find any reason that his father would have gone into it. Then an idea hit him, and he looked through the older guest books until he found the one from 2008. He looked under Febuary, and sure enough, Febuary 23, 2008, Jess and Rory Mariano checked into room 202 for one night. Chris heaved the books off the desk and back into their hiding places. He glanced up at the crowd and noticed it was much smaller than it had been a few minutes ago, and he soon spotted the reason. Sookie and Jackson's twin eighteen-year-old sons were herding people out the door. They got rid of the last unwanted guests and high-fived each other. Chris was in class with them, and had been in class with them for the past twelve years, but he wasn't very good friends with them. Sure, Sookie and Lorelai were best friends and were always trying to get the three of them together, but the twins were best friends and couldn't be bothered to allow anyone else into their elite torturing-little-kids-is-fun club. None of the adults could see it, but it was true. Chris decided to forget the two dumber-than-dirt brutes and visit his girlfriend. Room 212. He headed upstairs.  
  
  
  
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Rory was utterly worried. She'd been sitting in the diner for an hour, and she'd seen neither hide nor tail of her husband or her eldest son. She decided to look for them and knew the perfect place to find them. She herded Mini-Luke and Laura into the car and dropped them off at Cathy Clarkson's house.   
  
Cathy Clarkson was a single mother who, like Lorelai, had gotten pregnant at sixteen. Unlike Lorelai, she'd gotten pregnant again at twenty-two, and once more at twenty-eight. She was now the mother of an eighteen-year-old boy, Chris's best friend, a twelve-year-old girl, Luke's best friend, and a six-year-old little girl, Laura's best friend. Cathy herself was Rory's best friend, and they got together a lot, and babysat for each other. So Rory dropped her children at Cathy's house and raced towards her mother's inn.   
  
As she parked her car and walked into the Dragonfly, Rory passed Mike and Mark, Sookie and Jackson's bumbling idiot twins. But she'd never tell Sookie she thought that.   
  
The lobby was almost completely empty, so Rory walked behind the front desk to sneak a peek at the guest register. She noticed that the registers were slightly messed up, and she sneaked a peek at which ones were out of place. She picked up the one hanging out the most and opened it on top of the desk. The book fell open to Febuary 23, 2008, and Rory caught a glimpse of her name. She hastily closed the book and shoved it back underneath the desk. She grabbed the key to room 202 and ran upstairs.  
  
  
  
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Lorelai dragged Luke into the living room and pushed him onto the couch. She picked up Sixteen Candles and shoved it into the VCR. She sat next to Luke and draped his arm over her.  
  
"Oh, no, what movie are we gonna watch now?"  
  
"Shh! It's starting." Lorelai hissed as the camera came up on Samantha Baker talking on her phone before school. "They're gonna forget her birthday." Lorelai said gleefully.  
  
"You sound way too happy."  
  
"Well, her family's gonna forget her birthday, but the cute senior who likes her is gonna give her a birthday cake and make her wish come true and kiss her."  
  
"Great, I know the plot. Now can I leave?"  
  
"No! Ooh, look, Luke, the sex test!" Lorelai pulled his arms tighter around her. He sighed and settled in to watch the movie.  
  
  
  
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Chris unlocked room 212 and edged the door open.  
  
"Hello?" No answer. He peeked around the door. Empty. He walked into the room and glanced at the beds. Empty and empty. He noticed the closed bathroom door and moved towards it.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
Chris spun around to face the speaker. "Jen, hi." He leaned over to kiss her, but she backed away.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"Jen, honey, you're repeating yourself." Chris laughed nervously.  
  
"Don't call me honey," Jen shoved Chris aside and entered the room, threw her bag on the bed, and then spun around to face him, "and what are you doing in my room? No, first answer how you got in."  
  
"Key." Chris dangled the object in front of Jen's face. She snatched it out of his hand and glared at him. He smiled.  
  
"Were you spying on me?"  
  
"No, of course not!"  
  
"Then how did you know my room number? And how did you get a key?"  
  
"I looked up your room number."  
  
"Where? How? Why?"  
  
"My grandmother owns the inn."  
  
"Your grandmother's Lorelai Danes?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Okay. That's the how. Where? Why?"  
  
"Downstairs at the front desk."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because."  
  
"Because why?"  
  
"Just because."  
  
"Okay, I understand that teenage boys mature slower than girls, but this is ridiculous! Would you tell me why the hell you came into my room?"  
  
"I thought my dad was gonna beat up your dad, so I followed him here, but he went into a room, and it wasn't yours, and I found out that your room was 212, so I came up here to make sure you were okay." Chris proudly finished his elaborate story, thankful to his mother, father, and grandmother for the fast-thinking. Jen looked a little doubtful, but accepted the story.  
  
"Would you like to go for a walk around the town, m'lady?" Chris extended his arm.  
  
"Why, yes, I'd be delighted, m'lord." Jen placed her arm over his, and their lowered their arms until they were holding hands. Chris squeezed her hand, and she smiled at him. They walked out of the room, locked it, and walked downstairs and out of the inn.  
  
  
  
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Rory unlocked room 202 and edged into the room. She softly closed the door behind her, and just stared at Jess for a minute. Then she sat next to him on the bed, twined her arm into his, and rested her head on his shoulder. He greeted her with a kiss, not at all surprised to see her, and they shared in a memory of their early married life.  
  
**  
  
After a long and extensive fight between Mrs. Gilmore and Mrs. Danes, it was decided that the newly-wed Marianos would spend a week in New York at the Plaza, (the New York courtesy of Lorelai; the Plaza, Emily) and then a week in Fez (courtesy of Richard), all of which would be paid by the Gilmores, the Danes, and the Haydens. The Marianos gracefully accepted and went on their honeymoon, only to return to an even bigger surprise.  
  
"Surprise!"  
  
The town stood in front of Luke's diner, which boasted a huge sign declaring, "Welcome home, Jess and Rory!". Lorelai jumped in front of her daughter and son-in-law with the biggest smile in the world on her face.  
  
"Guess what!"  
  
"What?" The newly-weds asked simultaneously.  
  
"You have to guess!"  
  
"No, you don't." Luke appeared from behind his wife."We're giving you the diner."  
  
"What?" The newly-weds asked simultaneously again.  
  
"You get the diner. You get to run it, and own it, and the aparment above! Isn't it great?"  
  
"Well, yeah, but, Luke, what about you? What are you gonna do?" Rory asked, concerned.  
  
"I'll still work in the diner. I just won't own it. If that's okay with you."  
  
The newlyweds turned to each other and silently conversed. They turned back to Luke and Lorelai and the crowd. "Okay."  
  
A cheer went up from the crowd, and random people started coming up to the couple and congratulating them.  
  
"You make the perfect couple."  
  
"I think it's great you're getting the diner. You deserve it."  
  
"I think it's completely cute how you talk at the same time. You're perfect together."  
  
"Rory, you made the perfect catch."  
  
"Jess, you caught just the girl to keep you in line."  
  
"If you break up, I want my present back."  
  
The last two well-wishers were Luke and Lorelai.  
  
"Listen, our house is always open. We're always there for you. I'm glad you're happy, Rory." Lorelai kissed Rory on the cheek. "You, too, Jess." She kissed Jess on the cheek, too. Rory stared at her mother and husband, shocked to see that they were happy around each other. She looked pointedly at Jess. He shrugged.  
  
"Rory, you're the best thing that ever happened to Jess. You're the best thing that ever happened to your mother. Hell, you're probably the best thing to happen to me! Besides your mother, I mean." Luke quickly added at the look on Lorelai's face. He then awkwardly hugged Rory, and shook hands with Jess before Jess pulled him into a hug. Then the older couple departed, arguing about coffee, and left the newly-weds alone. They stared up at the diner, which seemed so much bigger now that they owned it. They entered the empty diner and headed up the stairs. In the lock was a key, with a note hanging on it.  
  


Thought we forgot to give you the key, didn't you?  
Nope, here it is.  
We also moved everything into the apartment for you.  
And, just for Rory, we (Luke) made coffee.  
Love,  
Luke and Lorelai Danes

  
  
Rory and Jess smiled at each other and then turned the key and entered the aparment. It was immaculate. Everything was in its place, and it looked like the two of them had been living there forever. The kitchen was completely stocked, the bathroom had towels and shampoo and everything, the beds had sheets on them, the TV had videos stacked next to it. But the biggest fixture in the apartment was the books. There were bookcases all over the apartment, and they were stacked full of books, some old, some new. The couple each headed to a bookcase and picked out a book, then sat down on the couch and read, entwined in each other's arms.  
  
**  
  
Rory looked up at Jess and shyly pulled a book out of her purse. It was the same one she'd read that first day home. Jess picked up the book next to him and showed it to Rory. They switched books, opened them, and started to read, entwined in each other's arms. 


	16. The Reunion: Part 1

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter 16: The Reunion: Part 1  
  
Disclaimer: I'm offering you another shocking announcement: I do not own the Gilmore Girls. That's right! I'm a no-owner!!   
  
  
  
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Jess stopped the car in front of Cathy Clarkson's house and Rory jumped out of the car with her three children. She came out less than five minutes later and hopped back in the car. Jess put the car into drive and the couple headed to the high school.  
  
  
  
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Dean and Margaret locked the Inn door behind them, checked and made sure their children were all right with a video and a pizza, and headed toward the high school.  
  
  
  
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Stars Hollow High was all decked out. Songs from 1999-2003 were blasting out of giant speakers next to a platform underneath a basketball hoop in the newly renovated gym. A large crowd of generation Y-er's from SHH and their spouses were milling around the gym, looking at the posters of people from the graduating class and memorabilia from the era. The Foresters entered through one door at the exact same time the Marianos entered through the door facing them. The couples gazed around the gym, and the men's eyes caught each other at the same time. They glared at each other and dragged their wives to opposite posters. Rory and Margaret ignored their husbands and continued looking around the gym. They caught each other's eye, and Rory saw Dean standing next to Margaret and spun around to look at the poster with Jess. Margaret was curious, so she told Dean to stay while she went to talk to someone. Like a good little husband, he obliged, and Margaret walked across the large gym and stopped in front of the Marianos.  
  
"Hi." she said to their backs. The couple spun around. Jess relaxed when he saw the unknown woman standing in front of him; Rory tensed.  
  
"Hi. I'm Jess Mariano, and this is my wife Rory." Jess gestured to Rory with his left hand, shaking Margaret's hand with his right. Margaret looked curiously at the woman shielding her face with her hand.  
  
"I'm Margaret Forester. My husband is-"  
  
"I know who your husband is." Jess interrupted angrily. "Where is the bag boy bastard?"  
  
"Jess." Rory cautioned from behind her hand. "Calm down."  
  
"Don't tell me to calm down! You're not calm. You're hiding behind your hand because of what he did."  
  
Rory dropped her hand and huffily faced Jess, ready to fight.  
  
"Excuse me, just what did my husband do?"  
  
Rory and Jess simultaneously turned to face Margaret, the same look on both their faces. You know, the one where someone has to tell you something they don't want to? Margaret's own face fell when she saw it.  
  
"Oh, no." she murmured.  
  
"He...well, he...." Rory trailed off and Jess opened his mouth to drop the fatal bomb, but someone interrupted them.  
  
"Rory? Oh my god, is that really you?"  
  
"Kathy Fischer!" Rory hugged Kathy.  
  
"I just haven't seen you in forever!"  
  
"Really? Because the last time I left town for more than a week was when I was in college."  
  
"Yeah, well, your mom was the center of a lot of rumors while you were gone, so Mom bought me this great house in California. It has three pools!"  
  
"Wow!" Rory said sarcastically. "Well, I gotta go now."  
  
"Okay, well I'll call you sometime!"  
  
"Great!" Rory turned around to her husband, whose shoulders were shaking with silent laughter. Rory hit him and he stopped laughing.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said with a huge smile on his face, "it's not funny at--at--" and with that he burst into laughter. Rory joined in, and Margaret tried to see the humor and failed. If she had laughed, she would have been laughing at herself. She was the same type of character. She married Dean because Mother had bought her a great big wedding dress and a house for them to live in. So Margaret just chuckled slightly. She was still nervous about what her husband had done. 


	17. The Reunion: Part 2

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter 17: The Reunion Part 2  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Margaret Forester tried as hard as she could to get the serious Jess and Rory Mariano back, but they were giggling like little kids, so Margaret left them to see if she could find someone who could tell her what Dean did now. He was always "going for drives" after fights they had at home, but he had never stayed out all night before. The way the couple had looked, so serious, that Margaret was afraid he had broken something. Someone's arm, maybe. Margaret caught Dean's eye and shook her head for him to stay where he was. She had him whipped, and so he stayed there, staring at a poster of some Korean girl in a cheerleading costume. She headed to the table where she'd gotten her nametag.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Hi and welcome to Stars Hollow High School Class of 2003 twenty-fifth year reunion! Wait, didn't I already give you your nametag?"  
  
"Yeah. I just wanted to ask you a few questions."  
  
"Kay. 'Bout what?"  
  
"Well, Cindy," Margaret glanced at the older woman's own nametag, "you seem like the kind of person who knows about everyone in the class."  
  
"Yeah, I guess so."  
  
"What do you know about Dean Forester?" Margaret used her latent reporter skills she'd used in high school (before she'd gotten pregnant) and pounced (figuratively) on poor little Cindy.  
  
"Ooh, Dean Forester! Okay, so he had this girlfriend, Rory, who went out with him for like three years, and they broke up when he hit her and she went to this trouble-making kid, and so Dean left, and then he came back a few days ago, and then he jumped through the window of Luke's Diner, this little diner in town that the trouble-making kid's uncle used to own, and the trouble-making kid's uncle married Rory's mom and Rory married the trouble-making kid, and now the trouble-making kid and Rory own the diner." Cindy said all this in practically one breath, using her latent gossiping skills from high school. She then picked up a beat-up yearbook from next to her seat and passed it to Margaret. "Sign my yearbook?"  
  
"Later," Margaret responded absently. She leapt up from the table and wandered back into the gym. She saw the Marianos, who looked slightly more serious, talking to a blonde ditzy-looking woman, and she headed over to the trio.  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Jess spotted someone he thought he recognized and squinted. When he realized he did know who she was the color drained out of his face and he grabbed Rory and pulled her into a huge kiss as the other girl passed by. But it didn't work.  
  
"Jess?"  
  
"Shane." Jess nodded and tried to pull Rory away from her. But Rory didn't want to go.  
  
"Hi, Shane."  
  
"Who the hell are you?" Shane glared at Rory.  
  
"Your worst enemy." Rory flashed her left hand's ring finger at Shane.  
  
"Is it true, Jess?"  
  
Jess, with his back to the girls, nodded slightly.  
  
"Why would he marry you?"  
  
"Why would he make out with you? He doesn't even know your last name."  
  
"That's not true!" Jess protested. "It's, uh, Slutty Girl?"  
  
Shane huffily whirled around and walked off; Rory faced Jess and they were once again interrupted by Mrs. Forester.  
  
"Hi, again!"  
  
"You're too perky. Don't you know about your stupid husband yet? If you don't, I'll tell you. He jumped through the window of our diner, which is the downstairs part of our house, and it formerly belonged to my uncle and before him my grandfather. It's been in my family for three generations and it's loved by the town. Oh, and when he was eighteen, he slapped my wife in the face. That's how much fun he is, okay? If I were you, I'd run away. Now. Okay, now can you leave us alone?"  
  
"Jess! That was rude."  
  
"No, it's okay. I knew most of that. I'm really sorry about the whole thing. I'll pay you for it if you want me to."  
  
"Oh, no, that's okay. It's not you we're mad at, anyway." Rory smiled at Margaret and she smiled back.  
  
"We are mad at your son of a--"  
  
"Jess!" Rory interrupted his mumblings. He shrugged and left, offering the explanation that he was going to find someone to talk to. Rory smiled apoligetically at Margaret. Margaret shrugged.  
  
"Who's this?" Lane asked from behind Rory.  
  
"Oh, hey Lane. Margaret, this is Lane Cho. Lane, this is Margaret Forester."  
  
"As in Dean Forester?" Lane paused before she shook Margaret's hand. Margaret nodded. Lane looked at Rory.  
  
"Oh, no, it's okay. She's nicer than him. And she apoligized for the little scene."  
  
"That makes it all okay?"  
  
"Okay!" Rory clapped her hands, ignoring Lane's question. "Who wants to see what they've got to eat?"  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Jess bumped into Dean, unintentionally for once. They both turned to apoligize, but stopped when they saw each other. Then Jess smirked.  
  
"Bag boy needs his wife to fight his battles."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You heard me. You're not man enough to apoligize to us yourself, so you have to get you wife to do it. I do have to say, man, that you've got a nice wife. She even offered to pay for the window. Of course, my too-nice wife declined."  
  
"What?" This was all news to Dean. He was completely lost.  
  
"Yeah. It's a lot of money, too. But I'm sure you already knew that."  
  
"No, I didn't know that. I have no idea what the hell you're talking about."  
  
"Your wife apoligized for you running through the window and offered to pay. She's over with Rory right now."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah. You mean, you didn't tell her to do that?"  
  
"No. I didn't even know where she went. She just told me to stay here, so I've been staring at this poster of Lane for half an hour." Dean waved at it. Jess looked up at it. He realized that it _was_ Lane, and she _was_ a cheerleader.  
  
"Oh, it's gonna be fun teasing her about this."  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't. She's kind of sensitive about it."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Well, when Rory was 'friends' with you, Lane was my only link to her. So I got to know her real well."  
  
"Really? I never knew that."  
  
"Yeah, I bet." Dean started walking away, but Jess called out.  
  
"Hey."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well, our kids are kind of together, and our wives are friendly, so do you think we should call a truce?"  
  
"Our kids are together?"  
  
"Well, they've just been hanging out for the past couple of days."  
  
"Your son better not do anything to my daughter."  
  
"He won't! And if he does, I get first dibs at killing him. Okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Truce?" Jess stuck his hand out.  
  
"Truce." Dean took it. 


	18. The Reunion: Part 3

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter 18: The Reunion: Part 3  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Rory and Lane spotted Jess and Dean at the same time.  
  
"Oh, my," they said simultaneously.  
  
"What? What?" Margaret asked from her spot at the table. Lane and Rory didn't answer Margaret's inquiry, only pointed. Margaret turned to look.   
  
"What? I don't see anything."  
  
"They're shaking hands." Rory said.  
  
"And no one's yelling." Lane pointed out.  
  
"And Jess isn't even smirking."  
  
"Does he still smirk a lot?" Lane turned to Rory.  
  
"No, not really. But Chris does. And then Jess gets into it, and they're both doing it, and it makes me feel like I'm back in high school. Times two."  
  
"Except for them. They're not acting like they're in high school." Lane pointed at Jess and Dean.  
  
"Yeah. I don't get that."  
  
"What, do they not get along?" Margaret interjected.  
  
"Never." Lane and Rory said simultaneously.  
  
The three stared at Jess and Dean for a minute. They had stopped shaking hands and were sitting at a table across from each other. It looked like they were talking.  
  
"I wanna go see what's going on." Lane said suddenly.  
  
"Me, too. Margaret?"  
  
"Sure." Margaret shrugged.  
  
"Let's go!"  
  
"Wait!" Rory put one hand in front of Lane to stop her forward motion. "I have an idea."  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
"How exactly are Christopher and Jenny together?"  
  
Jess sighed. "I don't know."  
  
"How do you know they're even together?"  
  
"Lorelai saw them walking through town together."  
  
"Oh. Well, are they boyfriend and girlfriend?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Have they kissed?"  
  
"I don't know, Dean! If you really want to know, you should ask your daughter."  
  
"Sorry! I just thought you would know!"  
  
"I don't know anything about it! I told you all I know!"  
  
"Okay! Fine!"  
  
The boys crossed their arms and glared at each other from across the table.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Rory, Lane, and Margaret stood on the opposite side of the gym from the scene straight out of the high school yearbook. They stared at the forty-three-year-old twelfth grade boys.   
  
"Ah, the joys of high school." Rory muttered.  
  
"Really." Lane agreed.  
  
"Now all we need is a good, old-fashioned pregnancy scare, and we'll be eighteen again." Margaret said, thinking about her own pregnancy.  
  
"Or some purple hair dye." Lane twirled a strand of her black hair around her finger.  
  
"And they ruined my idea! Well, I'm tired of it. I'm going over there to put a stop to this."  
  
"Not a complete stop, Rory. It makes life interesting."  
  
"Well, Lane, life can be too interesting." Rory started toward the boys, then stopped and looked back. "Well, are you coming or not?"  
  
"Oh, of course!" Lane and Margaret both ran after Rory.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
"Hi." A breathless Rory ground to a halt next to her husband's chair. Lane and Margaret piled up behind them.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Hi."  
  
"What's going on?" Dean looked from Margaret to Rory to Jess. Jess shrugged.  
  
"I have a feeling Rory's going to get on our case for fighting...again."  
  
"Yep. You know me so well." Rory leaned closer to Jess. She made it look as if she were going to kiss him, but instead, she smacked him upside the head. (A/N: Isn't that a great phase?)  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"I told you no fighting!"  
  
"Well, I didn't hit him this time."  
  
"No fighting! If you're gonna act like a five-year-old, I'll treat you like one."  
  
"I didn't hit him! Doesn't that count for something?"  
  
"Maybe. Did you wanna hit him?"  
  
"Always."  
  
"Wait, I wanna know who started the whole shaking hands thing." Lane edged in. Rory and Jess looked up. They'd forgotten the other three were there.   
  
"Jess." Dean pointed across the table. Everyone looked at Jess.  
  
"Really? Why were you shaking hands?"  
  
"Truce." Jess shrugged.  
  
"Awww, a truce!" Rory hugged Jess. "Isn't that sweet? He wanted a truce!"  
  
"But it didn't last, Rory." Lane reminded her.  
  
"Oh, who cares! They're Jess and Dean, they'll always hate each other! I love you." Rory kissed Jess square on the lips. "Dance with me." Rory pulled Jess up from the table and onto the huge dance floor.  
  
Margaret pulled Dean, who only stared after Rory for a second. Lane stood by herself for a little while, until _her_ husband came from the bathroom. She ran to him and pulled him onto the dance floor too.   
  
  
A/N: If I said I was going to stop the story at Chapter 20, what would you say? 


	19. Kids, Kids, Everywhere

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter 19:Kids, Kids, Everywhere  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Christopher Hayden Mariano pulled up in front of Christopher Hayden's house. He slid off his forbidden motorcycle, a gift from Chris himself, and walked up the steps of the modest Boston house. Christopher Mariano gathered his courage and knocked on the door. His aunt, whom he'd never met, answered the door.  
  
"Yes? Can I help you?"  
  
"I'm Christopher Hayden Mariano."  
  
"Yes, and I'm Wendy Alexis Hayden. Can I help you?"  
  
"Let me talk to Chris, Wendy."  
  
"How do you know my father?"  
  
"He's my grandfather."  
  
Wendy scoffed. "Daddy doesn't have any grandchildren."  
  
"Yes, he does. Three, in fact. I'm the oldest."  
  
"How could he have three grandchildren? It's just me, and I sure as hell don't have any kids."  
  
"It's from his other daughter. The one he had with the girl he was actually with."  
  
"Oh. _Her_."  
  
"Yes, _her_. Now can I talk to him?"  
  
"Whatever." Wendy moved aside to let Chris come in.  
  
"Ooh, clever. I can see you get your superb conversational skills from your mother." Chris retorted as he walked past his aunt.  
  
"Okay, whatever. First door down the hall to the right."  
  
"Thanks, Aunt Wendy." Chris punched her shoulder. She winced.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
"Mom, Ashley pinched me!" Twelve-year-old Rachel Clarkson called to her mother.  
  
"I did not!" Six-year-old Ashley defended herself.  
  
Cathy sighed and trudged from the kitchen where she had been sitting at the table grading homework. She stopped in the doorway to the living room and leaned against the doorjamb. Luke Mariano was sitting on the couch next to Rachel and Laura Mariano and Ashley were sitting on the floor leaning against the couch. Rachel and Ashley were currently glaring at each other; Luke and Laura were involved in a game of go fish. Cathy decided to separate her girls, so she positioned Luke and Rachel at the kitchen table to play poker and popped a Disney movie into the VCR for Laura and Ashley. Cathy, satisfied, decided to check on the older boys. She knocked on her son's bedroom door, but didn't open it.  
  
"Lance? You and Chris doing all right?"  
  
"Yeah! Great!" The muffled voice came out in the midst of a rock song. Cathy nodded and went back to the kitchen table to finish her work. Lance stayed in his room, all alone. Chris had sneaked out right after he'd gotten there. Lance didn't know why and he didn't ask. That was how their friendship worked. Chris did the wild stuff, Lance stayed home to maintain Chris's alibi.   
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Lane, Margaret, and Rory all sat around a table at the reunion, telling jokes and giggling. Henry, Dean, and Jess all sat around an adjacent staring at each other and every once in a while making polite conversation. None of them worried about their kids, although they all should have.  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Jennifer Forester told her little brother she was going out for a walk. She went for a walk, but stopped near the bridge and got pulled a pack of cigarrettes and a bottle of whiskey from herpocket.   
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Kim Cho--now Rygalski--was lying on a hospital bed with her brand new husband. She was really freaked out, cause it sort of looked like she was pregnant. And she really didn't wanna tell her mom she was pregnant without showing off her new husband. They'd only been engaged for a month, and Kim's mom hadn't even met Danny yet. He was the new drummer in the band of which she was lead singer. They'd met and within two days were planning on getting married. Kim's mom hadn't been too happy about that, so Kim had avoided talking about him. But one day they'd been fooling around and they'd gone too far, so they'd had to get married so Kim could tell her mom about the pregnancy guilt free.  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Chris slowly pushed open the door Wendy had pointed him to. He didn't see anyone so he practically tiptoed into the room. He saw someone sitting in a chair and cleared his throat. The person turned the chair he was sitting in around and Chris was surprised to see his grandfather in a wheelchair.  
  
"Uh, I'm Christopher Hayden Mariano."  
  
"I know who you are, Christopher. You can call me Chris, if you want to. Sit down."  
  
"Uh, sure. Okay." Christopher awkwardly sank down into a chair behind him.  
  
"So why are you here?"  
  
"Uh, I don't really know. It's just...well, see, I have this girlfriend."  
  
"And your parents are forbidding you to see each other?"  
  
"Yes, actually. Her dad did something to my parents and the three of them don't like each other."  
  
"Who's her dad?"  
  
"Uh, Dean Forester, I think."  
  
"That's Rory's ex-boyfriend, right?"  
  
"Yeah. Um, I'm really sorry, but I didn't know you were in a wheelchair. Why are you in a wheelchair?"  
  
"Motorcycle accident."  
  
"But you sent me a motorcycle for my birthday."  
  
"Rory doesn't let you ride it, right?"  
  
"Yeah. How'd you know?"  
  
"She's the only one who knows about my accident. I sent you the motorcycle to keep up appearances. Don't ride it anymore. It's really dangerous."  
  
"Okay. Why didn't Mom tell me about your accident?"  
  
"I told her not to. I almost didn't tell her, but Sherry convinced me."  
  
"Sherry...your wife?"  
  
"Yeah. And I didn't tell your grandmother because I really didn't want her to feel sorry for me. Just let her go on hating me, I'm fine with that."  
  
"Was she the girl your parents didn't let you see?"  
  
"Only after I got her pregnant. You didn't get this girl pregnant, did you?"  
  
"No, I haven't had a chance yet. She's abstaining from sex until her wedding night."  
  
"Good for her. Are you?"  
  
"It looks like it, now."  
  
"Good for you."  
  
"Thanks." 


	20. Trouble Is Found And Avoided

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter 20: Trouble Is Found and Avoided  
  
Disclaimer: Nope, no owners here.  
  
A/N: I totally didn't see the whole "Luke and Rachel" thing! That's so cool!  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
"Danes residence, at your service. If you're a child who wishes to reach us, press one. If you're an adult who wishes to reach us, press two. If you're a salesperson wishing to reach us, piss off and find a better job."  
  
"Mom?"  
  
"Yeah, Rory?" Lorelai clicked out of her "fake answering machine" mode.  
  
"What was that speech?"  
  
"Oh, well, I'm getting really tired with all these telemarketers. They always call for all these different people!"  
  
"Like the catalogs, Tootie McPerkison?"  
  
"Yeah, like the catalogs, only it's Squeegy Bottomtoes. Or something. Anyway, this is my new project. I figure I'll act like an answering machine, and screen all my calls."  
  
"I'm gonna come over next week and you'll be the new maid answering the door, won't you?"  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"And what does Luke think about this new 'project'?"  
  
"Oh, he's all for it. Thinks it's a great idea. He wants to burn our answering machine."  
  
"Doesn't know, does he?"  
  
"Nope! What gave it away?"  
  
"The burning of the answering machine was a bit much."  
  
"Yeah, I almost left that part out. Guess I should've."  
  
"Yep. Might've been more convincing."  
  
"So, what's up, Lady-Bug?"  
  
"That's a new one. Did I suddenly become a big red bug?"  
  
"Yep! A two-year-old big red bug at that. But--this is the killer--it's red like r-e-a-d. Ha! You get it?"  
  
"Yes, Mom, I get it. Anyway, the reason I'm calling is to ask you and Luke a favor."  
  
"You want me to pick up the kids from Cathy's house and bring them over here?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"And you want to make sure Room 202 at the Dragonfly is open."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"It is. To get the key, you need to go behind the front desk, find my favorite chair, and once you locate that, you must look for the little desk behind it. After you find the little desk, you must find the drawer and then pop the secret drawer out from underneath it to find the key lying there on a nice little pink silk pillow!"  
  
"Wow. Complicated instructions."  
  
"Yeah. I think the phone might be bugged, and if the FBI _is_ listening, I want them to think my life is much more interesting and spy-like than it is."  
  
"By letting them know you think up places to hide keys to rooms in your Inn?"  
  
Lorelai paused. "Yeah. You know, when you say it, you make me sound pathetic."  
  
"Well, sometimes you can be."  
  
Lorelai gasped. "Take that back."  
  
"Sorry, sorry, taken back."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"See you tomorrow."  
  
"You too."  
  
"Love ya."  
  
"Right back at you, Lady-Bug."  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Chris arrived back in Stars Hollow and deposited his motorcycle back where it had been that morning. He locked it up and then walked over to the bridge to throw the key away. He wasn't going to ride it again. As he neared the bridge, he thought he saw Jen. He walked up right next to her.  
  
"Hi."  
  
Jen, shocked, turned around, throwing the ciggarrette in her hand into the water. "Hi." With her left hand behind her back, she hid the bottle of whiskey in her pocket and half-hugged Chris with her right arm.   
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Nothing. You are very cute." Jen leaned in to kiss Chris.  
  
"Are you drunk?"  
  
"I dunno, are _you_ drunk?" She started giggling uncontrollably.  
  
"Okay, I'm gonna take you home."  
  
"Take you home, I'm gonna! Hee-hee, see, that was me, being Yoda. Hee, isn't that funny?"  
  
"Yeah. Come on, let's go." Chris led Jen towards the Dragonfly.  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Kim Cho Rygalski--daughter of Lane and Henry Cho--winced as the doctor entered the hospital room. She knew the answer he held in his hands before he uttered anything.   
  
"I'm pregnant," she whispered as she buried her face into Danny Rygalski's--son of Dave and Monica Rygalski, and her new husband--chest.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Chris walked out of the Dragonfly Inn as Rory, Jess, Lane, Henry, Margaret, and Dean drove up. He barely managed to sneak away without them seeing him and he even made it back to the Clarkson homestead before Luke and Lorelai detached at the lip long enouch to pick up their grandparents. Therefore, trouble was found and avoided, all in a few hours. 


	21. Missed Opportunities Meet Each Other And...

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter 21: Missed Opportunities Meet Each Other And Fall In Love  
  
Disclaimer: No, I'm sorry, I don't own the Gilmore Girls. I do own Kim, Danny, and their story, though.  
  
A/N: This story is about Lane Kim. This is her story. It will explain Kim Cho Rygalski and Danny Rygalski. Ooh, this is fun. Anyway, we're starting at the end of senior year.  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Lane Kim was hanging out of her second story bedroom window, staring at the guy who held her heart walk down the street. He didn't know he held her heart, though, because Mrs. Kim would never allow Lane to show Dave Rygalski exactly how much she liked him. The coolest guy she'd ever met, and the only guy she'd ever really wanted to show off to her mom, and she couldn't, because she knew her mother wouldn't approve. And there was something else too...what was it? Oh, yeah, she was getting married in the morning. She'd graduated from high school less than a week ago and already her mother was forcing her into marriage with some guy she'd never even met. Leave it to Lane Kim to have the only arranged marriage since the last century. She sighed and pulled herself back into her room. She looked around the empty room and threw herself on her bed without any sheets as she started to cry.  
  
  
  
~~~~~   
  
  
  
The next morning Rory and Lane were in a room in a hotel in Hartford, where Lane's fiancee was from. Lane was in a wedding dress with long sleeves, a high collar, and ankle length skirt. "I'll write you every day." Rory hugged Lane.  
  
"You better. I wanna hear all about Yale."  
  
"Of course." The girls reluctantly pulled apart. "I can't believe your mom actually did this."  
  
"I can."  
  
"I always knew she was extreme, just not this extreme."  
  
"She found out about Sophie and the drums. And the music under the floor."  
  
"Oh, that's why."  
  
"And Dave. She found out about Dave."  
  
"I am so sorry." Rory pulled Lane into another hug.  
  
"I am going to miss you so much!"  
  
"I'm going to miss you too."  
  
"Oh, you're so lucky. You're gonna go to college and meet a boy you actually like and make new best friends and everything!"  
  
"Oh, no one could ever replace you! You're my best friend forever and ever."  
  
"Really?" Lane slightly pulled out of the hug to look at Rory. "Forever and ever?"  
  
"Yes, just like second grade, you are my best friend forever and ever. Still."  
  
"You're the best best friend a girl could have."  
  
"No, you are."  
  
"No, you are."   
  
"Let's stop arguing."  
  
"Okay." The wedding march started.   
  
"That's our cue."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Rory folded down Lane's veil. "I'm gonna miss you." She said through the curtain before whirling around. She quickly walked away from Lane, her heart aching as she put her arm through Joey, the groomsman's. They slowly walked up the aisle, and as Lane came into view, Rory had to look away for fear that the tears rolling down her face would disrupt the ceremony. Lane and Craig were married, and before Lane knew it, her new husband swept her away from her friends, family, and everyone she knew, to a small eastern college where he was pre-med. She knew no one, not even her husband. She felt like she was suffocating. Luckily she was rescued five years later.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
"Name, please?"  
  
"Lane Li." Lane responded promptly to the too-cheery woman behind the counter at the airport. Lane Li. The name still sounded silly to her, even after almost five years. Five years with that lunatic for a husband. Lane sighed and smiled as the happy ticket person--what do they call those people anyway?--slid her ticket across the counter. She glanced at the gate number and then the time, and realized she had almost three hours before the plane would even begin to board. She smiled, glad she'd planned it out so well, and started to look around the small airport shops, hoping to find presents for Rory, who she was going to visit. Lots and lots of presents. And maybe a nice present for Luke and Lorelai, who had gotten married two years before, and were still settling in to married life, however slow they were going. And something for Jess, who had recently tied the knot with Rory. Lots and lots of presents.  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Lane settled into her seat on the airplane. She stowed her smallest carry on bag underneath the seat in front of her. Her big carry on bag, with her clothes in it, was stowed above her head. She wedged her purse in between her arm rest and her arm and leaned her head back, waiting for the take off.  
  
"Excuse me."  
  
Lane opened her eyes to see a man with a laptop case waiting for her to move.  
  
"Oh, you have the window seat?"  
  
"Yeah." He smiled a tight-lipped smile at her and moved past her as she stood up. He placed the laptop case gingerly underneath the seat in front of him and leaned back in his chair, much like Lane had done minutes before. Lane looked at him curiously as he started to drift off.   
  
"Oh, my god!"  
  
"What? What's going on?" he sat up quickly.  
  
"Henry?"  
  
Henry looked at Lane increduously. "Yeah?"  
  
"Henry Cho?"  
  
"Soon-to-be Doctor Cho."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah. Do I know you?"  
  
"You used to. Lane Kim." She proudly shoved her hand into his chest. He sort of shook it. "Well, Li, actually."  
  
"Lane Li?"  
  
"Yeah. It's okay to laugh, I hate it, too. Actually I hate my husband."   
  
"Why'd you marry him?"  
  
"My mother made me."  
  
"Your mother scares me."   
  
"My mother scares everyone. Except for my husband. He scares her."  
  
"Does he scare you?"  
  
"Yeah, actually. I really don't like him."  
  
"I have a friend who's studying to be a lawyer. I bet he could help you get an annulment."  
  
"I don't think I'm brave enough to get an annulment."  
  
"Because of your husband?"  
  
Lane shook her head. "My mother."  
  
"Hmm. That is an obstacle."  
  
"To get off the subject of my mother and onto the topic of anything else, what have you been doing for the past six years?"  
  
"Well, I graduated from Chilton and got into Harvard Pre-Med. My best friend's sister somehow convinced me to apply to University of Chicago Medical School so I can 'work with those cuties from ER' she said."  
  
"That's where you are now?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Then what were you doing in northern California?"  
  
"Visiting my best friend. What are you doing in northern California?"  
  
"That's where Craig's going to school."  
  
"Craig, your husband?"  
  
"Yep. Craig, my husband."  
  
"Where'd you go to college?"  
  
"I didn't." Lane shook her head again. "Craig didn't want me to."   
  
"Sounds like you're giving up a lot for someone you don't like."  
  
"Yep. So why are you going to Hartford?"  
  
"Visiting my parents. You?"  
  
"Friends. And maybe parents. You never know."  
  
"Yeah. I'll stop bumming you out now."  
  
"Please."  
  
Henry smiled a genuine smile and got out his laptop. He started working on something. Lane looked away when he looked up, embarrassed that he had caught her. She reached for the headphones in the pocket of the seat in front of them and eased them on as the movie's first titles started rolling.   
  
  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Two years later, Lane looked up into the eyes of Henry from the hospital bed where she was laid up. The nurse rolled a plastic crib into the room and placed a small bundle in Lane's arms. Henry kissed his daughter and then his wife on the forehead, before signing the birth certificate for Kimberly Susan Cho, or Kim Cho, as she came to be called.  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
Lane and Henry both ran for the phone when it rang. Lane got there first.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Mom?"  
  
"Kim, is that you?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"What are you doing and where the hell are you?"  
  
"New York. With the band."  
  
"New York?! You traipse halfway across the country with 'the band' and take a week and a half to call me and your father?! Do you have any idea how worried we've been?"  
  
"Yeah, probably. I'm really sorry."  
  
"Yeah, it's okay. When are you coming home?"  
  
"Um, I don't know."  
  
"You need to come home soon, okay?"  
  
"Well, Mom, I kind of want to stay here."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I want to stay with the band. Here. In New York."  
  
"Why? Well, I mean, I know why, but...don't you want to come home to your family?"  
  
"Mom, this is kind of like my family here."  
  
Lane knew how much a band could be like a family. Her following words tore at her heart. "Well, you're eighteen now, and legally out of my household, and so...good luck to you, Kim. I love you."  
  
"Wow. Thank you, Mom, and I love you too." Kim hung up the pay phone, surprised at how cool her mother was being.   
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
"Kim! Five minutes!"  
  
"Thanks, Danny!" Kim called through her dressing room door. She finished her makeup and looked herself over in her mirror. Being the only girl in the band, she got her own dressing room when they got gigs, and the other four had to share a room. It was usually that way when they spent the night in a hotel, too. Kim nodded at her reflection and headed out to the stage. She waited till the rest of the boys headed onstage and paused before she ran out. She headed straight for the microphone and smiled through the lights. She turned around and looked at Danny Rygalski. He counted to four on his drum sticks and then started into the song. Kim looked at George and Drew; they started on the guitar and bass. Kim waited for her cue, and then she and Lance started in at the same time. Lance played the keyboard. Kim was the lead singer.   
  
Two hours later, the band ran off the stage amid large applause.  
  
"This is the fifth club we've charmed this week!" Kim high-fived George and Drew. She hugged Lance, he was like her brother. She just sort of smiled at Danny; she got lots of butterflies in her stomach when she looked at him, more than she'd gotten the first time she'd gone onstage. They'd talked in the van on the way to this gig in New Jersey, and found out that Kim's mom and Danny's dad had grown up in the same little Connecticut town. Danny still lived there with his parents, Dave and Monica Rygalski. Kim had only been there once or twice.   
  
  
  
~~ ~~~~~  
  
  
  
Five months later, Kim and Danny were sharing a room when they stayed at a hotel, and George, Drew and Lance were sharing another room. Kim and Danny only needed one bed. They were engaged to be married, and Kim's mother wasn't too happy that Kim was marrying this guy that her mother had never even met. The couple was putting off the wedding until they could make it to Stars Hollow; they were planning for the wedding to be there. At the time they were in Massachusetts, working the college sets. The band had a record deal and after Kim and Danny were married they were heading out to L.A. Unfortunately, there was a slight setback.  
  
"Danny, I really don't think I can go on tonight."  
  
"What? Why not?"  
  
Kim was leaning over the toilet, sick to her stomach. "I think I have the stomach flu."  
  
"Well, I'll go get you some medicine."  
  
"That'd be great, thank you. Oh, and can you get me a pregnancy test?"  
  
"Sure. So Pepto Bismol, pregnancy test.." Danny grabbed his coat and started for the door. "Pepto Bismol, pregnancy test....Oh, my god, did you say pregnancy test?"  
  
Kim nodded weakly.  
  
"Well, those at-home pregnancy tests suck. You never know if they're right or not. I'm taking you to the emergency room." Danny pulled Kim to her feet and handed her her jacket.  
  
"What? You don't have to take me to the emergency room. I really don't like hospitals."  
  
"Well, you could either be pregnant with our baby or have the stomach flu, and either way, I want you to be checked by a doctor."  
  
"What about the gig?"  
  
"Well, we've got time."  
  
"No, we don't. We have to be on in half-an-hour."  
  
"Well, we'll just have to cancel the gig or send the Three Stooges out there by themselves."  
  
Kim and Danny looked at each other. "We're canceling the gig." Danny opened the hotel room door and led Kim out by her hand.  
  
"Hey, and on the way to the emergency room, could we get married?"  
  
Danny turned to look at his fiancee. "Uh, why?"  
  
"Well, I'd like to be married before I find out I'm pregnant. We have the license and everything. We've taken all the tests, we just need to find a justice of the peace."  
  
"Okay, sure, we'll get married, and then we'll go take a pregnancy test. Oh, fun."  
  
Kim smiled at the back of Danny's head as he held her hand and led her downstairs. They got married and later found out that Kim was pregnant. The gig was canceled and the Three Stooges were witnesses of the wedding and stayed in the waiting room while Kim took the pregnancy test and waited on the results. 


	22. Friends?

Title: Expect the Unexpected  
Chapter 22: Friends?  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own Gilmore Girls. Sorry to disappoint all of my wonderful fans!!!  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Hey." Lane entered Luke's and took off her hat and coat.  
  
"Hey!" Rory looked up from behind the counter where she was working. "So, how's the family?" Rory plopped a coffee cup in front of Lane.  
  
"Paul's sulking because we forgot to bring his Game Boy, Edie's chatting on the phone to her boyfriend 24/7, and Henry's on his last nerve."   
  
"Hanging out with me today?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"When're you guys heading home, anyway?"  
  
"Why, looking to get rid of me?"  
  
"Yep. In secret I can't stand you."   
  
"Yeah, I figured." Lane smiled at Rory and turned around to face her as she set about serving people. "We're off for another week."  
  
"Wow, you even got the kids out of school for that long?"  
  
"Winter break."  
  
"Ahh." Rory set a plate of pancakes in front of Lane, and then looked up as the bell over the door signaled that someone had come in.   
  
"Hi." Margaret said awkwardly.  
  
"Hey!" Rory smiled as she got another coffee cup. Lane didn't say anything, just sort of smiled.  
  
"Oh, those look good. Can I have some pancakes, too, please?"  
  
"Sure." Rory yelled into the kitchen for pancakes and Margaret looked around the diner.   
  
"You're too friendly," Lane mouthed to Rory.  
  
"She's nice," Rory mouthed back.  
  
"She's Dean's wife."  
  
"So?" Rory shurgged. Lane shook her head and kept eating.   
  
"Hello, dear, I'm Patricia." Miss Patty introduced herself to Margaret. "Who are you?"  
  
"Miss Patty, that's not very polite." Rory playfully scolded.  
  
"Rory, sweetie, don't forget who you're talking to."  
  
"It's okay, Rory. I'm Margaret Forester," Margaret answered Miss Patty.  
  
"Oh, the wife of the little troublemaker himself." Patty's gossip radar picked up a nice juicy story.   
  
"Oh, the diner incident. Rory and I have already made amends."  
  
"Oh, really?"  
  
"Miss Patty, please, we've had enough gossip about Jess, Rory, and Dean to last us a lifetime. Why don't you try Kirk? His mom won't let him out of the house again." Lane spoke up.  
  
"No wonder Taylor was so on edge this morning. I need to have another talk with that man." And with that, Miss Patty walked out of the diner and immediately pulled out her cell-phone. When Lorelai opened the door and walked into the diner, Rory, Margaret, and Lane could all hear her yelling at Taylor.  
  
"Hey, babe! Three coffees to go, please." Lorelai slapped her hand on the counter.  
  
"Mom, that didn't make Luke go any faster, it won't work on me, either."  
  
"Hey, you be careful how you talk to your mother. I'm poorly under-coffee-nated. My arm might slap you of its own free will."  
  
"Coffee-nated?"  
  
"Yes, my darling daughter. And not just coffee-nated, _under_-coffee-nated."  
  
"Okay." Rory got three to-go cups.  
  
"Hey, it's Lane! And...I'm sorry, I don't recall your name," Lorelai said to Margaret.  
  
"Oh, that's okay. I'm Margaret Forester. My family and I are staying at your inn. It's very nice, by the way."  
  
"Well, thank you, my daughter's first love's wife. Hey, look at that, I played _Four Degrees of Seperation of Lorelai Gilmore_."   
  
"Only you, Lorelai." Lane sipped her coffee.  
  
"Hey, only you could have children named Edie Brickell Cho and Paul Simon Cho."  
  
"You're just mad because Edie didn't come out before you had Rory."  
  
"Shush. Didn't your mother ever tell you to talk to your elders nicely?"  
  
"Well, she told me not to talk to you at all."  
  
"Oh, that's right."  
  
"Here you go, Mom. Three coffees to go." Rory placed the three cups on the counter.  
  
"Thanks, sweetie." Lorelai started looking in her purse for money.  
  
"Uh, Mom?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You wanna tell us who the coffees are for?"  
  
Lorelai looked up to see the three girls staring at her. "No," she said simply before paying and walking out the door.  
  
"That woman's up to something." Lane muttered.  
  
"Yep." The other two agreed simultaneously.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Chris, get out of that room! Jen, I've got coffee!" Lorelai yelled through the door to Rory's former room. The door opened and Chris walked out, sheepishly smiling. "Hey, I told you last night that she could stay if there was no hanky-panky!"  
  
"There wasn't! I swear!"  
  
"Well, you're Jess's kid, so I wouldn't believe you with that stupid I-had-sex grin on your face, but you're also Rory's kid, so, you're off the hook."   
  
"Thanks, Lorelai."  
  
"Hey, that's 'sexy aunt Lorelai' to you!" Lorelai called to Chris's back. He waved an arm as he headed to the living room. Lorelai pushed the door to Rory's room open and waved the cup of coffee. Jen groaned in the light.  
  
"Did I hear someone say 'I've got a hangover please give me coffee, you incredibly young grandmother of my sexy plaything'?"  
  
"If it gets me coffee, yes." Jen held out a hand and Lorelai put the cup of coffee in it. Jen took a big sip and smiled. Lorelai smiled back and started to leave when Jen called out. "Hey."  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Thanks for letting me stay here last night. I hate to think what would have happened if my parents had found out."   
  
"Crying, screaming, general disappointment."  
  
"Probably. How'd you know?"  
  
"That's the way it was at my house when I came home late; then again, one night I came home late and pregnant, so there was a lot of screaming and crying then, but you're not gonna have that problem, because you're not gonna get pregnant for many many years. I don't recommend getting pregnant before you're forty."  
  
"Yeah, I know. My mom was young when I was born."  
  
"Oh, really? How young?"  
  
"Eighteen when I was born, seventeen when she got pregnant."  
  
"You're seventeen now?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"How old was your dad?"  
  
"Lemme think. Uh, twenty-five, no, twenty-six when I was born."   
  
"Really? Huh." Lorelai shut Rory's door, and left Jen alone. She saw Chris on the couch, watching one of Luke's movies. Luke was off somewhere; Lorelai couldn't remember where. Sookie was watching the Dragonfly; it was Lorelai's day off. She had nowhere to go, but plenty to think over.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Oh, I've got to go pack." Margaret checked her watch and then put her coffee cup down. "Sorry."   
  
"You're leaving?"  
  
Margaret nodded as she wrapped her scarf around her neck. "Actually, not till five tomorrow, but I like to be ready early."  
  
"Ah, a girl after my own heart." Rory smiled. Margaret nodded and opened the door. "Hey!"  
  
"Yeah?" Margaret let the door softly close.  
  
"Are you busy tonight?"  
  
"No, just packing."  
  
"Do you think you and your daughter would like to come to my mother's house for a movie night sleepover thing?"  
  
"Well, I don't know...."  
  
"Well, I'll be there, and my mom, Mom's friend Sookie, Sookie's daughter Karen, and Lane and her daughter Edie." Rory waved a hand towards Lane, who shot her a dirty look.  
  
"Uh, I guess we can come. Is it like a slumber party thing?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess so. We're watching five movies, I think, so, you might wanna spend the night."  
  
"Okay, so I guess Jen and I'll be there at seven?"  
  
"Six."  
  
"Okay, bye." Margaret finally made her way out of the diner. She was a little surprised that Rory had been nice enough to ask her.  
  
  
  
~~~~   
  
  
  
"Rory, what the hell are you doing?" Lane, still sitting at the counter in Luke's, stared at her friend.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You're inviting that woman to our one and only slumber party? I see you once a year and we have one slumber party and you're inviting Dean's wife?"  
  
"She's a genuinely nice person, and I would like to get to know her."  
  
"Why? Why do you want to get to know Dean's wife?"  
  
"She's not 'Dean's wife'! She's Margaret Forester, the mother of the girl my son's in love with."  
  
"Chris is in love with Dean's daughter?"  
  
"Yep. I would love to get to know the girl Chris loves."  
  
"I didn't realize Chris loved her. I guess...it's okay."  
  
"Okay. So we'll see you and Edie at six tonight?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess so. I should probably...go."  
  
"Yeah, I'll see you later."  
  
"Sure. Bye."  
  
"Bye." Lane walked out of the diner, the bell over the door ringing. 


	23. Poker Games and Movie Nights

Poker Games and Movie NightsTitle: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter 23: Poker Games and Movie Nights  
  
Hee, I'm back! Actually, I'm only here for a little while, okay? See, I've got about twenty stories, and while they're unfinished, they're still slightly buzzing around in the back of my mind....and it's been the longest since I've updated this one. So I'm gonna finish it. Soon. Probably next chapter, because not only is twenty-four an even number, it's divisible by three, and my mom's got me doing this numerology thing, so now I'm in the habit of 'if it's divisible by three, everything's better.' So I'll finish this story up soon. It'll happen, I swear. Okay, now, on with the show!!!  
  
Oh yeah, picks up on the same day the last one ended on. Just later in the day.  
  
~~~~  
  
"How many more people?" Lorelai asked at six-thirty that evening as she walked into the Danes kitchen from the back door. Rory looked up from the book she was reading.  
  
"So far, it's just you, me, Sookie, and Karen."  
  
"Hmm. Do ya think they're gonna show?"  
  
"I dunno. Margaret might be forced by Jen, and Lane will almost definitely be forced by Edie."  
  
"I've always liked Edie."  
  
"Yeah, I know. What movie did you get?"  
  
"Movies. With an s."  
  
"Fine. What movies did you get?"  
  
"The best of singers turned actresses and vice versa!"  
  
"Oh, like what? You didn't get any rated R, did you? Cause we have a thirteen-year-old here and a fifteen-year-old coming. And Sookie and Lane don't want them watching certain movies yet."  
  
"Okay. I'll just take a few of these back." Lorelai reached into the plastic bag and pulled four movies out.   
  
"Mom!"  
  
"Don't worry, we've got more."  
  
"How many?"  
  
"Four."  
  
"You got eight movies?"  
  
"I'm taking four of them back!"  
  
"Fine. Just don't get any more. And this time, pick up the pizza."  
  
"Ooh, I knew I forgot something. Okay, I'll be right back." Lorelai left the four remaining videos on the kitchen table and walked to the front door, waving to Sookie and Karen in the living room as she passed them. She pulled open the front door to reveal Margaret and Jennifer Forester. All three were slightly surprised.  
  
"Hey, Lorelai!" Jen was the first one to speak.  
  
"Jen, how're you doing?"  
  
"Better."   
  
"Well...that's always good to hear."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"So...are we early?" Margaret finally spoke up.  
  
"Uh, no, actually. Rory's in the kitchen, my best friend Sookie and her daughter Karen are in the living room, and I'm just heading out for pizza. Any preferences?"  
  
"Not really," Margaret declined politely.  
  
"Cheesiest crap they got." Jen pronounced proudly. Lorelai laughed and nodded.  
  
"Can do. Why don't you go see Ror? She's right through there." Lorelai pointed, and the mother-daughter team thankfully found Rory.  
  
~~~~  
  
Twenty minutes later, three out of the four mother daughter combinations were sitting around the Danes couch, starting in on the pizza. Rory had pleaded for another ten minutes before they started the movies, and everyone had agreed to wait for Lane for a little while longer. Before long, the front door creaked open and Lane called out.  
  
"Hello? Rory?"  
  
"Lane!" Rory squealed, popping up from her seat on the floor to greet her friend. As Rory ran around the corner and Lane came into view, she realized there was not one, but _two_ Cho daughters walking behind Lane.  
  
"Kim!" Rory threw her arms around the teenager, shocking her almost as much as Lane had shocked Chris days before. "How've you been?"  
  
"Good."  
  
"She's pregnant," Lane muttered.  
  
"What?" Rory was shocked.  
  
"And she just got married last night."  
  
"Well...congratulations, Kim! So what's your name now?"  
  
"Kim Rygalski." Lane murmured.  
  
"Ooh. Uh. Why don't we go into the living room. Movies and pizza and all that." Rory fake-laughed as she herded the females into the living room. She certainly hoped the night went okay.  
  
~~~~  
  
The night did go okay. As a matter of fact, it went great! Karen and Edie really hit it off, despite the slight age difference. Jen was thrilled to death by Kim--she'd gone to one of the band's concerts in a club, and she'd been waiting for their record for forever. Sookie and Lorelai were best friends just like they'd been for over thirty years, and even Lane warmed up to Margaret, who was the sweetest person in the world--until she drank, and then she was the most hilarious person in the world. After the legal, non-pregnant group had gone through two bottles of wine, Margaret had gotten up and started telling jokes. She'd gone on for over an hour, and everyone laughed themselves to sleep.  
  
~~~~  
  
Meanwhile, all the men were going through a similar ritual. Luke, Jackson, Jackson's twin eighteen-year-olds Mike and Mark, Jess, Chris, Chris' best friend Lance, Little Luke, Henry, Henry's twelve-year-old Paul, Dean, and Dean's eight-year-old Jon were gathered in the Mariano apartment to play poker. After about four hours and three twelve-packs of beer, Dean and Jess weren't speaking, everyone eighteen and under had disappeared, Jackson was down two hundred dollars in chips, Luke was down one hundred fifty dollars in chips, and Henry was winning.  
  
It was Luke's turn to deal, so he did, saying as he flipped the cards to each man, "Five card stud. Jacks and Jokers are wild. Last game, and then we can go home."   
  
"You can't," Jess pointed out, picking up his hand.  
  
"Damn." Luke sighed. "Can I stay here?"  
  
"Yeah. You have to open the diner in the morning, though. Three." Jess slid three cards to Luke, who dealt him three more.   
  
"Why not just make Chris open the diner?" Jackson suggested, staring at his hand. It was really bad.  
  
"Good idea, Jackson. You want any cards?"  
  
Jackson shook his head. "I fold."  
  
No one acted surprised. Jackson had folded for the past ten hands.  
  
"Henry?" Luke turned to the fourth man.  
  
"I'll take one," he responded, handing over one card. Luke obligingly only dealt him one card, and Henry's expression never changed as he was handed the one card that could cause him to lose.  
  
"Dean?"  
  
The other four all turned to Dean, who had been silent for a while.  
  
"Uh, two, I guess."   
  
"Okay. And the dealer takes two." Luke finished redealing the cards and everyone stared at their cards, and then at Luke.  
  
"Uh, Luke?" Jess prompted Luke out of his stupor.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Everybody ante."  
  
Everyone excluding Jackson threw a white chip in the middle of the table. Luke started the betting at five, and everyone threw another chip in the pile. The betting continued, but after a while, Luke had to fold. The betting got higher and higher, and before long, Henry had ducked out too. Jackson and Luke were shocked, and immediately stood up to look at Henry's hand. It was really good--one of the highest you could get. They exchanged glances, and then Jackson ran to stand behind Dean and his hand, and Luke stood behind Jess and his hand. Henry offered to check on the younger boys, and left.  
  
"I see your five, and raise you five," Dean said to Jess, staring only at his hand.  
  
"I see your five, and raise you ten," Jess announced, tired of the tiny betting that amounted to a lot. He wanted to get to the chase, and the chase was that he could beat Dean at anything at all, especially anything that had to do with smart know-how.  
  
"I see your ten, and raise you ten," Dean threw his chips on the pile.  
  
"I see your ten, and raise you twenty."  
  
"I see your twenty, and raise you five."  
  
_Ha, ha, losing steam,_ Jess laughed to himself. Out loud he said, "I see your five, and raise you fifty."  
  
Jackson whistled; Luke just smiled.  
  
"Uh, I see your fifty, and, uh, I raise you...." Dean trailed off, and Jess' head started screaming victory. "I raise you fifty." Dean ended triumphantly, and he finally raised his head and looked directly into Jess' eyes.  
  
"I see your fifty, and I raise you--" Jess paused to count. "Four hundred thirty seven."  
  
Dean's eyes widened, and he slowly lowered his cards.  
  
"I fold," he said softly.  
  
"Yes! I win!" Jess jumped up out of his chair, throwing his own cards on the table. "I can beat you at anything, bag boy!"  
  
"What'd you have?" Jackson asked, reaching across the table for the cards. "A pair of twos?"  
  
"Yup. I had a pair of twos."  
  
"What? You cheated, you bastard!" Dean yelled.  
  
"No, I didn't cheat. I bluffed."  
  
"You lied!"  
  
"Calm down! It's just a game!" Luke said in a desperate attempt to get the fight over before it started.  
  
"Yeah, Dean! And I won!"   
  
With that, Dean sprang at Jess, and it was 'just a nice, everyday poker game brawl between friends,' as both men told their wives the next day when they showed up at the diner with double black eyes and bruised lips and faces. 


	24. Surprises and Twist Endings

Title: Expect The Unexpected  
Chapter 24: Surprises and Twist Endings  
  
~~~~   
  
"Jenny, if we want to get there on time, we have to leave now!"  
  
"Just a second, let me finish the story!" Jen answered her husband. She heard a slight grumbling from his direction, but that was it, so she turned back to her twin daughters.  
  
"After that week, I moved to Stars Hollow with my family and started going out with your father. We even went to the same college, Yale."  
  
"What about your dads?"  
  
"I'm getting there. After four and a half years of dating, your dad proposed."  
  
"I love your ring," Jen's second daughter said dreamily.  
  
"I know. I told my mom immediately, and she told your other grandmother. We told them not to tell our fathers, and then we went to this big party thrown by your great-granmother."  
  
"I can't wait to see her again," the first twin said.  
  
"Yeah, that's why I have to finish this story quick. At the big party, we announced to everyone we were getting married in two months."  
  
"What did the grandpas do?"  
  
"Yeah, what did they do?"  
  
"They were okay for a while. But the day before the wedding, they got into a fight."  
  
"Why?" the twins asked simultaneously.   
  
"I dunno. They've never told us. But they didn't fight at the wedding, and we didn't let them get together for a while after that."  
  
"And then we were born!"  
  
"And everyone lived happily ever after!"  
  
"Yeah, pretty much," Jen laughed.  
  
"Jennifer Anne! We need to go!"  
  
"Calm down, Chris! We're coming." Jen stood up, and the twins stood up and started following her. "Don't forget your invitations," she reminded.  
  
The twins ran back to their spots on the floor and picked up the square pieces of paper.  
  
"Why do we need invitations to go to a party our own grandparents are throwing?"  
  
"Well, Maggie, they want to be formal."  
  
"Yeah, Mags, it says so right here," Lori pointed to her invitation. "They 'formally invite us.'"  
  
"Shut up, Lori! You don't always have to be right!"  
  
"Yes I do! I'm older!"  
  
"By two minutes! Only two!"  
  
"I'm still older!"  
  
"Lorelai, Margaret! Stop fighting!"  
  
"Sorry, Mom." Both girls hung their heads and climbed into the minivan. As soon as their mother turned her head, they started shoving each other.  
  
"That's it. Lori, into the back. Maggie, in the front." Chris declared from the driver's seat.  
  
"Aww! I always have to go to the back."  
  
"That's cause you're older." Chris pointed out.  
  
"This stinks." Lori complained as she crawled into the back. Jen just smiled and stuck a DVD into the player. Both girls happily looked up as the opening titles came up and put their headphones on.  
  
"There. Quiet for two hours, at least." Jen smiled at Chris, who smiled back.  
  
"I hope there aren't any fights this time."  
  
"Oh, there's hardly been any since the girls were born."  
  
"I didn't mean between our fathers, I meant between our mothers and us."  
  
"Oh, I don't think we'll fight too much."  
  
"Are you kidding? They've been on us to have another kid since those two were out of diapers." Chris gestured to the twins in the back.  
  
"Well, they're not gonna need to suggest anything this time."  
  
"Whaddya mean?"  
  
"Oh, try to guess, Chris. Think really hard."  
  
Chris scrunched up his forehead in thought. "Oh!"  
  
"Yeah," Jenny nodded.   
  
"Really?" Chris turned to her.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Definitely. Just got the call earlier. It's for sure."  
  
"Wow. Another kid."  
  
"At least the twins are eight, and they can help out a little."  
  
"Yeah. That's good."  
  
~~~~  
  
"Hey, you! Yeah, you! Where are you going?" Seventy-three-year-old Lorelai Danes yelled at a young girl trying to sneak in to Jen and Chris' anniversary party.  
  
"Uh, Grandma Lorelai? It's me, Laura." The twenty-year-old explained as she handed her invitation to her grandmother.   
  
"Oh, yeah. I didn't recognize you with the...pink hair."  
  
"Like it?"  
  
"It's wonderful, sweetie. Now, go, run along, have fun! But not too much. You're not legal for another two years."  
  
"Absolutely." Laura ran off to her friend Ashley Clarkson, also twenty. Lorelai sighed and sank back into her chair next to seventy-five-year-old Luke.  
  
"I'm old."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"You're older."  
  
"I've always been older, Lorelai."  
  
"Yeah, I know." Lorelai leaned her head into Luke's shoulder. Rory came walking up.  
  
"Aw, how sweet."  
  
"Oh, Rory! Are they here yet?" Lorelai lifted her head.  
  
"No, not yet." Fifty-eight-year-old Rory sat in a chair next to her mother.  
  
"Well, who is here?" Lorelai asked impatiently.  
  
"Dean, Margaret, Jon, Luke and Rachel, Laura and her friend Ashley, Lance and his wife Tonie, Lane and Henry, Kim, her husband Danny, their kids James, John, and Liz, Edie and Paul, Sookie and Jackson, Mike and his wife Claire, Mark and his wife Ginger, Karen, and Jess." Rory ticked off the names on her fingers.  
  
"Is that it?"  
  
"I think we're missing about two college roommates," Rory answered her mother.  
  
"How do you keep all that in your head?" Luke asked.  
  
"It's been expanded by coffee."  
  
"Ha! I told you it's a good thing."  
  
"She's your daughter, she's almost as strange as you are."  
  
"Oh, shush, you."  
  
"Ror! They're coming!" Jess yelled from the front door of the Dragonfly.  
  
"Ooh. Bye, guys." Rory leapt out of her chair and walked over to the front door.  
  
~~~~  
  
"The sign says the building's closed," Chris observed as the minivan pulled into the Inn's parking lot.  
  
"Lorelai just put that there so it's only us."  
  
"Ah. How do you know more about my grandmother than I do?"  
  
"I pay attention." Jen smiled at Chris and turned to the twins. "Come on, girls, let's go. Got your invitations?"  
  
"Right here," Lori held up her envelope, and Maggie held up an identical one.  
  
"Good." Chris smiled and started herding the girls up the steps. Jen knocked and Rory answered the door.   
  
"Good afternoon, and welcome to the Dragonfly Inn. If you'll just read me your invitations."  
  
"Go ahead, girls." Chris prompted. The girls cleared their throats and started.  
  
"Dean and Margaret Forester and Jess and Rory Mariano formally invite you to the tenth anniversary of the joining of their children, Jennifer Anne Forester and Christopher Hayden Mariano in Holy Matrimony on August the sixteenth, the year of our Lord Two-Thousand Forty-Two."  
  
"That was wonderful, girls! Come on in."  
  
"Thank you, Grandma Rory." Lori said.  
  
"Yeah, thanks, Grandma."  
  
"Of course, darlings. You're always the sweetest things, I say." Rory smiled as the eight-year-olds walked into the Inn. "Well, Jen and Chris, how's the anniversary going so far?"  
  
"Wonderfully, Mom."  
  
"Thank you so much, Rory," Jen said as she hugged her mother-in-law.  
  
"Oh, it's completely my pleasure. And of course, your mother's, too." Rory added as Margaret walked up to them.  
  
"Of course," Jen smiled.  
  
"By the way, we were wondering..."  
  
"When we're going to be grandmothers again." Margaret finished.  
  
"Hmm, I'd say about seven months."  
  
"Yes!" Rory and Margaret both threw their arms around Jen, who laughed. 


End file.
